Israel's Smotrich says time has come to erase the lines between West Bank areas

Far-right Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich said that “the time has come to erase, permanently, the lines distinguishing between Areas A, B, and C,” in the occupied West Bank, implying de facto Israeli annexation of the land, according to Israeli media reports. According to the Oslo II Accords, signed in 1995 by Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank was divided into three areas: A, B and C. Area A comprises 21 percent of the land and falls under full Palestinian Authority administrative and security control. Area B makes up 18 percent of the land and is under partial Palestinian Authority administrative control. Israel retains security control over Palestinian villages and rural areas in Area B, as well as over Area C, which accounts for 61 percent of the land. The Israeli government in February approved sweeping changes to land registration and civil control in the occupied West Bank, a move Palestinians say breaches the Oslo Accords and advances de facto annexation.