Introduction
Whenever you talk to a Palestinian here about housing, house demolitions, village expansion, settlements or land you will very quickly hear the words "Area C". Israel implements its occupation by restricting Palestinians' use of space in many ways, but that little phrase indicates one of its most common methods. Israeli use of Palestinian space includes restrictions on building and construction, appropriation of West Bank land for settlement building, Wall/Fence construction and unspecified military purposes, the closure of areas as "firing zones" and nature reserves, and closures that restrict Palestinians' freedom of movement and access to essential services.
Summary: Area C and its effects
Area C has a profound effect on the life of Palestinians and yet few people outside Palestine have any idea of its significance. Area C comprises some 62% of the area of the West Bank, it is the only contiguous part, splits the West Bank into small pieces often called "cantons", and is where most of the smaller settlements and Israeli roads are located. According to the World Bank, Area C also acts as a major constraint on Palestinian economic development. The purpose of this Report is to briefly set out what Area C is and how the Israeli Government uses it. In effect it seems to me that Israel treats this 62% of the West Bank as though it were its own sovereign territory. In fact, as we all know, according to UN resolutions and international law, the West Bank (and Gaza) will be the lands of the putative Palestinian state.
What is Area C and how did it arise?
· Areas A, B and C were a result of the ill-fated Oslo Agreements of the 1990s.
· A map showing areas A, B and C is attached.
o Areas A and B include the major Palestinian cities (Area A) and the countryside in light brown which contains smaller Palestinian towns and villages (Area B). In total they comprise 38% of the West Bank. Area A is under Palestinian civil and security control. Area B is under Palestinian civil control but joint Israeli/Palestinian security control;
o Area C is the grey and yellow areas comprising 62% of the West Bank. The grey areas are designated by Israel for settlements or military use only, and Palestinian building or construction there is totally forbidden. In the yellow areas, planning restrictions make any Palestinian building or construction virtually impossible while settlements are expanded and new ones started. The yellow areas contain many of the smaller Israeli settlements and roads, and is contiguous. Area C is under total Israeli control—civil and security.
· This division was intended as a temporary arrangement: the 1995 agreement setting these areas up was a transitory step in what were expected to be continued negotiations which would (among other things) gradually transfer control of Area C to the Palestinian Authority (PA) by 1999. However negotiations became stalemated during Netanyahu's previous period as Prime Minister and collapsed altogether in 2000.
· In effect Israel now treats Area C as though it is Israeli territory—62% of the West Bank!
· According to the UN, the division of the West Bank into Areas A, B, and C has not altered the status of the entirety of the West Bank as occupied territory.
· More than 400 Palestinians villages have part of their built up area in Area C, and 150 are entirely located in Area C. It is estimated that 150,000 Palestinians live in Area C.
· Many Palestinian villages in the Jayyous area are designated Area B but are surrounded by Area C and this is quite common.
This is all very complicated: why does it matter?
It has a huge impact on the daily life of Palestinians.
· Construction of any kind in Area C, be it a private home, an animal shelter or a donor-funded infrastructure project, requires approval by the Israel Civil Administration (ICA) which is under the authority of the Israeli Ministry of Defence. This approval will in almost all cases be refused or, at best, long delayed.
· New or expanded houses: The simplest and very common case is a Palestinian village in Area B but surrounded by Area C. Israel does not allow expansion of the village into Area C to cope with a growing population. If anyone builds in or extends a house or a school into Area C, he will be served with a demolition order and the building destroyed today, tomorrow or in the future. This is what happened in Harris—see my Report #6—and another 25 Harris houses in this position have demolition orders as well.
· Existing houses: Demolition orders are placed on houses that have stood for many years but that Israel now deems to be in Area C. Several houses in Salfeet district are in this position as is a small village, Izbat at Tabib, near here. The whole village of 40 houses has been here since the 1920s, but it and a lovely school have demolition orders to make room for settlement expansion and an industrial zone.
· Infrastructure projects: major projects such as construction or expansion of schools or medical clinics and shelters or the rehabilitation of water infrastructure all require communities, NGOs or international funders to go through a lengthy and complex permit application process to the ICA. Approval is not guaranteed. For this reason, the World Bank considers the ICA to be a "major constraint" to implementing projects in Area C.
· Water is hugely important in what is a relatively dry area, and, apart from household and industrial consumption is used by both Israeli and Palestinian farmers for irrigation of many crops. Using the powers of an Israeli Military Order of 1967 that requires permits for all water structures, Israel monitors and intervenes to control all water related activities in Area C. Thus
o Jericho, which badly needs a proper sewage system if its water supply is not to be polluted, is Area A—under full Palestinian control—but is totally surrounded by Area C. Any repairs, modifications or new construction in relation to water for Jericho therefore needs approval of and cooperation with the Israeli military authorities.
o Jayyous water is another example. An application for a permit for a project to supply Jayyous with water from its wells via a new pipeline has been pending with the ICA since 2002.
How does a Palestinian apply for a permit to build/extend his home?
S/he must meet a number of criteria including:
· The person submitting the application must be able to prove that s/he owns or has the right to use the land. Land registration, property tax, or inheritance documents are required. This can be very difficult: most land in the West Bank is not yet registered, and if several people own the land together each must sign in person.
· The proposed construction must be in conformity with an approved planning scheme that is detailed enough to enable planning permits to be issued. This is the hurdle on which most applications are rejected.
Planning restrictions in Palestinian areas
The planning regulations used by the Israel Civil Administration (ICA) under the authority of the Israeli Ministry of Defence to control new and modified construction in the West Bank are very complex, and some go back to the British Mandate period. Two points which contrast the favourable treatment of Israeli settlements compared to Palestinian villages and towns in Area C are:
· Consistency with existing plans:
o Palestinian permit applications are usually rejected on the grounds that the proposed construction is inconsistent with existing development plans. However the ICA has produced development plans for only a very few of the hundreds of Palestinian villages in Area C. For other villages in Area C British Mandate Law is applied. This essentially treats these areas as for agricultural use but with some ability to build. However the ICA now rejects most applications for building permits here, too.
o Plans for Israeli settlements: by contrast the ICA has approved development plans for almost all settlements located in the West Bank. These are much more favourable than the few development plans for Palestinian villages both in housing density (2.7 to 12.8/hectare compared to 24-70/hectare respectively) and population density (11 times lower for Israeli settlements compared to Palestinian villages).
· No Palestinian participation in the planning process
o No Palestinian participation: Jordanian Law applied in the West Bank before 1967 allowed for (Palestinian) community participation at central and local government level in the planning and zoning process. This was nullified in 1971 by an Israeli Military Order. As a result, the current planning system applied to Palestinian communities is highly centralised within the Israeli Civil Administration with no Palestinian participation in the preparation of development plans.
o Full settlement participation: the West Bank Military Commander is able to appoint a Special Local Planning Committee (SLPC) in a "new planning area", that is, for Israeli settlements, and virtually all settlements have SPLCs. These Committees issue building permits in line with plans approved by the ICA and are responsible for enforcement.
Mike Barnes
28 April 2010
Notes
1. The occupying power, Israeli is responsible under international humanitarian law for ensuring that the basic needs of the occupied population are met, to administer its occupation in a manner that benefits the local Palestinian population, not to discriminate against the local Palestinian population, and not transfer its own population into the territory under occupation. Under international human rights law, Israel must ensure that Palestinians enjoy their human rights including the right to housing, health, education and water, among others.
2. This report is based upon a UN OCHA Special Focus entitled "Restricting space: the Planning Regime Applied by Israel in Area C of the West Bank" dated December 2009. See www.ochaopt.org.
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