Editing West Bank (section)

====Palestinian enclaves====
{{main|Palestinian enclaves|Palestinian National Authority}}
[[File:Settlements2006.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|right|A map of West Bank settlements and closures in January 2006: Yellow = Palestinian urban centers. Light pink = closed military areas or settlement boundary areas or areas isolated by the [[Israeli West Bank barrier]]; dark pink = settlements, outposts or military bases. The black line = route of the Barrier]]
The 1993 [[Oslo Accords]] declared the final status of the West Bank to be subject to a forthcoming settlement between [[Israel]] and the Palestinian leadership. Following these interim accords, Israel withdrew its military rule from some parts of the West Bank, which was divided into three [[West Bank Areas in the Oslo II Accord|Areas]]:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Area!!Security!!Civil Admin!!% of WB<br />land!!% of WB<br />Palestinians
|-
|A||Palestinian||Palestinian||18%||55%
|-
|B||Israeli||Palestinian||21%||41%
|-
|[[Area C (West Bank)|C]]||Israeli||Israeli||61%||4%<ref>{{cite web |url=http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/World/palest.htm |title=JURIST – Palestinian Authority: Palestinian law, legal research, human rights |publisher=Jurist.law.pitt.edu |access-date=9 October 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805032025/http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/world/palest.htm |archive-date=5 August 2011}}</ref>
|}

Area A, 2.7%,{{fix|text=of what?}} full civil control of the Palestinian Authority, comprises Palestinian towns, and some rural areas away from Israeli settlements in the north (between [[Jenin]], [[Nablus]], [[Tubas (city)|Tubas]], and [[Tulkarm]]), the south (around [[Hebron]]), and one in the center south of [[Salfit]].<ref name="Oslo 2">{{cite web |last1=Gvirtzman |first1=Haim |title=Maps of Israeli Interests in Judea and Samaria Determining the Extent of the Additional Withdrawals |date=8 February 1998 |url=http://www.biu.ac.il/Besa/books/maps.htm |access-date=1 September 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130506141747/http://www.biu.ac.il/Besa/books/maps.htm |archive-date=6 May 2013}}</ref> Area B, 25.2%,{{fix|text=of what?}} adds other populated rural areas, many closer to the center of the West Bank. Area C contains all the [[Israeli settlements]] (excluding settlements in East Jerusalem), roads used to access the settlements, buffer zones (near settlements, roads, strategic areas, and Israel), and almost all of the [[Jordan Valley]] and the [[Judean Desert]].

Areas A and B are themselves divided among 227 separate areas (199 of which are smaller than {{cvt|2|km2|sqmi|0|sp=us}}) that are separated from one another by Israeli-controlled Area C.
<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.prb.org/Articles/2002/TheWestBankandGazaAPopulationProfile.aspx |title=The West Bank and Gaza: A Population Profile – Population Reference Bureau |publisher=Prb.org |access-date=9 October 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081025203542/http://www.prb.org/Articles/2002/TheWestBankandGazaAPopulationProfile.aspx |archive-date=25 October 2008}}</ref> Areas A, B, and C cross the 11 [[Governorates of the Palestinian National Authority|governorates]] used as administrative divisions by the Palestinian National Authority, Israel, and the IDF and named after major cities. The mainly open areas of Area C, which contains all of the basic resources of arable and building land, water springs, quarries and sites of touristic value needed to develop a viable Palestinian state,<ref>[[Jonathan Cook]], [http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/world-bank-report-is-a-message-against-israeli-occupation 'World Bank report is a message against Israeli occupation,'] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017024400/http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/world-bank-report-is-a-message-against-israeli-occupation |date=17 October 2013 }} The National, 15 October 2013,</ref> were to be handed over to the Palestinians by 1999 under the Oslo Accords as part of a final status agreement. This agreement was never achieved.<ref>Ron Pundak [http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/decoding-bibi-s-west-bank-agenda.premium-1.455265 'Decoding Bibi's West Bank agenda,'] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120803033617/http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/decoding-bibi-s-west-bank-agenda.premium-1.455265 |date=3 August 2012 }} at [[Haaretz]], 3 August 2012.</ref>

According to [[B'tselem]], while the vast majority of the Palestinian population lives in areas A and B, the vacant land available for construction in dozens of villages and towns across the West Bank is situated on the margins of the communities and defined as area C.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.btselem.org/English/Publications/Summaries/200205_Land_Grab.asp |title=B'Tselem – Publications – Land Grab: Israel's Settlement Policy in the West Bank, May 2002 |publisher=Btselem.org |access-date=9 October 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081006161118/http://www.btselem.org/english/publications/summaries/200205_land_grab.asp |archive-date=6 October 2008}}</ref> Less than 1% of area C is designated for use by Palestinians, who are also unable to legally build in their own existing villages in area C due to Israeli authorities' restrictions,<ref name=AUS2922p4>{{harvnb|World Bank|2013|p=4}}. "Less than 1 percent of Area C, which is already built up, is designated by the Israeli authorities for Palestinian use; the remainder is heavily restricted or off-limits to Palestinians, 13 with 68 percent reserved for Israeli settlements, 14 c. 21 percent for closed military zones, 15 and c. 9 percent for nature reserves (approximately 10 percent of the West Bank, 86 percent of which lies in Area C). These areas are not mutually exclusive, and overlap in some cases. In practice it is virtually impossible for Palestinians to obtain construction permits for residential or economic purposes, even within existing Palestinian villages in Area C: the application process has been described by an earlier World Bank report (2008) as fraught with "ambiguity, complexity and high cost"."</ref><ref name=IllegalSettlements-C>{{cite news |quote=Arab illegal construction is 16 times that of Jews, per person (..) The NGO Regavim presented the committee with aerial photographs that show that the PA is systematically encouraging illegal construction in the area next to Jerusalem. The construction is funded by EU states, in contravention of the law and previous agreements (..) PA works day and night to take over state land. |last1=Ronen |first1=Gil |title=2014: Arabs Built 550 Illegal Structures in Area C Alone |url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/188349 |access-date=7 December 2014 |publisher=Arutz Sheva |date=7 December 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141210011404/http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/188349 |archive-date=10 December 2014}}</ref>

An assessment by the UN [[Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs]] in 2007 found that approximately 40% of the West Bank was taken up by Israeli infrastructure. The infrastructure, consisting of settlements, the [[West Bank barrier|barrier]], military bases and closed military areas, Israeli declared nature reserves and the roads that accompany them is off-limits or tightly controlled to Palestinians.<ref name="OCHAoPtHumanitarianImpact">{{cite web |url=http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/TheHumanitarianImpactOfIsraeliInfrastructureTheWestBank_full.pdf |title=The Humanitarian Impact on Palestinians of Israeli Settlements and Other Infrastructure in the West Bank |publisher=UN [[Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs]] – Occupied Palestinian Territory |access-date=9 April 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326021132/http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/TheHumanitarianImpactOfIsraeliInfrastructureTheWestBank_full.pdf |archive-date=26 March 2009}}</ref>

In June 2011, the Independent Commission for Human Rights published a report that found that Palestinians in the West Bank and the [[Gaza Strip]] were subjected in 2010 to an "almost systematic campaign" of human rights abuse by the [[Palestinian Authority]] and [[Hamas]], as well as by [[Israel]]i authorities, with the security forces of the PA and Hamas being responsible for torture, arrests and arbitrary detentions.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mcquaid |first1=Elwood |url=http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=224143 |title=PA bans journalists from reporting human rights abuses |work=The Jerusalem Post |date=8 July 2010 |access-date=31 July 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805020106/http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=224143 |archive-date=5 August 2011}}</ref>