Israeli official urges 'sovereignty' in West Bank

By Abdul Raouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) – Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely on Monday called for imposing Israeli “sovereignty” on Area C of the occupied West Bank.

"Using the term annex is not true. You annex something that is not yours. This is not a story of annexation. This is a story of realization," The Jerusalem Post newspaper quoted Hotovely as saying, in reference to area C, some 60% of the occupied West Bank.

"Many ask what's next, what's going to happen, what's going to change [following the annexation of area C]. For 52 years, we were feeding this myth of occupation. It's a myth. It's not true," she said.

Under the 1995 Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), the West Bank -- including East Jerusalem -- was divided into Areas A, B and C.

Area A falls under the administrative and security control of the PA; Area B falls under the administrative control of the PA and the security control of Israel; and Area C falls under the administrative and security control of Israel.

An estimated 640,000 Jewish settlers currently live on 196 settlements built with the Israeli government’s approval and more than 200 settler “outposts” built without its approval throughout the West Bank.

International law regards the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as an "occupied territory" and considers all Jewish settlement-building activity there to be illegal.