by Gideon Allon and Israel Hayom Staff
Under the Oslo Accords, Area C of Judea and Samaria is under full Israeli control, but "since 2008, the Palestinian Authority has been making considerable takeover efforts," MK says
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Area C makes up
about 60% of Judea and Samaria and some
150,000 Palestinians live there
Illustration: AFP
The
Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee's Subcommittee on
Judea and Samaria held an emergency session Sunday on "the Palestinian
Authority's strategic takeover of Area C," which, under the 1993 Oslo
Accords, is under full Israeli civil and security control.
"Since 2008, the Palestinian Authority has
been making considerable efforts to take over Area C," subcommittee
chairman Habayit Hayehudi MK Moti Yogev said.
"Taking control of these territories is
part of the PA's strategic concept," he continued. "It has
even established an official ministry to oversee its activities in Area
C. Meanwhile, our own government isn't doing enough to monitor this
issue and stop it."
Kobi Eliraz, the Defense Ministry's
secretary of settlement affairs, noted that "the Defense Ministry is
becoming far more aware of the situation in Area C, as are the relevant
decision makers, as it is a strategic, open-area sphere."
"The defense establishment is familiar
with the PA's attempts to take over the area," he said, adding that
Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman was "pursuing operative, legal and
administrative measures to stop it. We have an orderly work plan in
place that includes clear objectives."
Eliraz noted that Israel has been largely
successful in stopping the phenomenon of the European Union illegally
funding modular housing for Palestinians in Area C.
"We have stopped this. It almost doesn't exist anymore," he said.
Col. Uri Mendes, deputy head of the Civil
Administration, said the agency was holding monthly meetings on
illegal Palestinian construction in Area C.
"There is almost no illegal construction
or land infiltration that is not recognized," he said, adding that
enforcement action against illegal Palestinian construction in Area C
was suspended during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.
Gideon Allon and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/2018/06/04/palestinian-takeover-of-area-c-must-be-stopped-knesset-committee-warns/
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