Israeli settlements in West Bank's Areas A and B aims to fragment Palestinian geography

As Israel's government pays lipservice to distance itself from "Jewish settler terrorism" in the occupied West Bankhttps://www.newarab.com/news/hundreds-palestinians-under-israeli-siege-jordan-valley and some settlement outposts, blaming a "very small number" of actors, the facts on the ground as well as statements, positions and conduct by Israeli officials prove otherwise.

Beyond acts of thuggery and terrorism, which soldiers and even members of the Knesset often participate in, Israeli settlers, with government backing, are seeking to establish more settlement outposts across the occupied West Bank and consolidate their presence in areas classified as "A" and "B" under the Oslo Accords, which are supposed to fall under Palestinian Authority civilian control.

According to a report published by the Hebrew-language newspaper Haaretz on Thursday, 27 August, the Israeli state attributes violence in the town of Qusra, south of Nablus in the northern West Bank, and elsewhere to a small group of extremist settlers.

However, the establishment of at least 30 settlement outposts over the past two and a half years in areas under the Palestinian Authority's jurisdiction, most of them in areas classified as "B", points to an organised and deliberate policy. 

It enjoys significant support from right-wing members of the Israeli Knesset, while the failure of Israeli forces to act forms an integral part of it.

The details published by the newspaper indicated that at least one outpost was established in "Area A", while all the outposts were built in strategic locations for purposes including obstructing Palestinian construction and restricting Palestinian movement in the area.

Despite the picture Israel attempts to present, all this is taking place with the cooperation of the Israeli army and the full support of Knesset members.

The Hebrew-language report noted that one month after the dissolution of the Knesset, and at a time when ethnic cleansing in "Area C" nears completion, settlers and their government representatives are enthusiastically proceeding with the next stage of the plan: expanding the process of dispossessing Palestinians of their land inside areas under the Palestinian Authority.

Areas A and B account for about 40% of the occupied West Bank. No settlement outposts had been established there since 2024.

Since the Oslo Accords, attempts to expand outposts beyond the boundaries of Area C into Area B have been blocked by orders from the Civil Administration, but this changed under the current government of Benjamin Netanyahu.

42 new outposts in the West Bank

Initially, settlement outposts were established in areas classified as "B" along the contact line with areas classified as "C". They then began penetrating further and further into areas under the control of the Palestinian Authority.

In the summer of 2025, research organisations identified about 10 settlement outposts in areas under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, most of them in the nature reserve area, which was agreed under the Wye River agreements to be kept free of construction.

Moreover, Israel seized planning and construction law enforcement powers from the Palestinian Authority inside the reserve. 

This year, enforcement powers in Areas A and B relating to environmental, archaeological and water issues were also transferred to the Civil Administration.

Before this surge, such outposts were considered extremist and outcast, even by Israeli standards. But their rapidly increasing number, amid the occupation's disregard for laws that should prevent them, along with repeated visits of support by coalition members, has made them commonplace.

In a statement distributed to the media in January, the Israeli occupation army said 42 settlement outposts, which it claimed had been established "without approval from the political level", were responsible for about 90% of "nationalist crime" in the West Bank, referring to settler terrorism.

According to a report by the rights organisation Yesh Din, published earlier this year, most of these attacks took place in Areas A and B.

In April, reports said US pressure over the wave of Jewish terrorism in the West Bank had prompted the Israeli cabinet to decide to tighten law enforcement against settlement outposts in Area B.

According to Haaretz, the Israeli occupation intensified evacuations of makeshift shelters, but the lives of settlers there continued as normal.

Alongside the outposts in Area B, a settlement outpost was established last year south of the village of Sinjil, near Ramallah in the central West Bank. It is the only known outpost so far in Area A, where the Palestinian Authority holds security and civilian powers.

Practical steps and clear statements

Settlement outposts are being established in areas under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, along road routes, on mountain tops or near new Palestinian construction.

Contrary to the official Israeli claim that these outposts are established without approval or coordination, Haaretz said the process was not random and that the political level was fully aware of what was happening.

The newspaper cited several facts, including a previous conference organised by the Hozrim Habaita (Returning Home) Forum in the Knesset, with the participation of government members, under the title "Controlling Open Areas". The conference called for the establishment of 100 additional settlement outposts in Areas A and B.

Zvika Fogel, chairman of the National Security Committee, addressed participants at the time, saying: "Anywhere you go and need me, I will be there with you. This is the right way to do it (control areas under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority), not through legislation or talk here but through actions. Do not stop and do not allow others to stop you."

Although the locations of future settlement outposts have not been published, according to forum members, they were "carefully selected" over several months, based on a geographical analysis they had prepared.

According to their claim, 60% of Areas A and B, or about 1.2 million dunams, are open, undeveloped areas, meaning that they are available for settlement in their view.

For example, the map published by the forum also identifies the mountain top in Qusra as a suitable area for establishing a new outpost.

Knesset member Avichai Boaron of the Likud party presented the depth of support for the idea during the conference.

Against the backdrop of satellite images showing infrastructure for residential Palestinian construction in Area B, Boaron claimed that this was "political construction" aimed at controlling a strategic area, rather than the result of natural Palestinian population growth.

A representative of the government, which approved the establishment of 104 new settlements and supported hundreds of settlement outposts, claimed that control of the land is achieved in this way, adding, "They control entire mountain ranges through asphalt roads, then another house and another house. This is how they impose control over very large areas of open land outside the villages."

Boaron pointed to settlement, including pastoral settlement farms, as the appropriate tool for preventing Palestinians from expanding in the area.

Toward the end of Netanyahu's previous government in 2021, the research department of the Intelligence Ministry under his office published a report containing several claims, including that the Palestinian Authority was taking over "open areas" in the West Bank to create Palestinian geographical contiguity, cut Israeli geographical contiguity, consolidate de facto control and build near Israeli settlements in ways that harm security, among other claims.

The report said: "Control in Area C is, for the Palestinians, a logical continuation of their (permitted) steps in Areas A and B."

The report recommended monitoring Palestinian activity there and confronting it.

In other words, as Haaretz described, and according to an official document that was also cited at the forum conference held in the Knesset, Palestinian construction on the edges of areas under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority is viewed as a strategic threat to settlements in Area C. Therefore, the Israeli state believes it must "respond" to it.

Article translated from Arabic by Afrah Almatwari. To read the original, click here.