What Is the West Bank and Who Controls It?

[Pelican Press 0]

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What Is the West Bank and Who Controls It?

******** troops raided two ************ cities on Wednesday in what they called an effort to tamp down rising militancy in the northern West Bank.

The renewed ********* has cast a spotlight on the ********-occupied territory, where over 600 Palestinians have been ******* in clashes with ******** forces, according

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, in parallel to the devastating war in Gaza.

Here’s what to know.

What is the West Bank?

Roughly three million Palestinians and 500,000 settlers live in the West Bank, a kidney-shaped area between ******* and Jordan that has been a battleground between Israelis and Palestinians for decades.

The modern territory emerged after the 1948 war that created *******; during the conflict, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes, with many taking refuge in the West Bank. Jordan occupied and then annexed the territory after the war.

In 1967, ******* occupied the West Bank and other territories in a war with neighboring ***** states. For religious Jews, the territory’s rolling hills and ancient sites were the heart of what they deemed a divinely promised homeland.

******* slowly began permitting its own citizens — propelled by both nationalism and religious fervor — to build and expand settlements in the West Bank. But it never formally annexed the territory, fearing both the diplomatic repercussions abroad and that it might end the country’s coveted ******* majority at home.

Gradually, a two-tier system developed in the West Bank. ******** citizens live there, vote in ******** elections and generally enjoy the rights and privileges of their compatriots who live within the country’s internationally recognized boundaries.

Their ************ neighbors, meanwhile, live under ******** military rule. They have never had the right to vote for *******’s government, whose decisions shape their everyday lives.

Wasn’t there a peace process?

During the 1990s, ************ leaders signed the Oslo Accords, which allowed them to administer some cities and towns under the aegis of the newly minted ************ Authority. They hoped the Authority would become the basis for a future sovereign Palestine.

Under the agreements, the West Bank was broadly divided into three fragmented zones until the two sides could hash out a final deal. In the largest — comprising 60 percent of the West Bank — ******* would maintain direct control. ************ officials would hold varying degrees of autonomy in the other two.

That future state has never materialized, with both sides pointing figures at one another for the ******** to reach an accord in the intervening decades.

******** leaders blamed ************ officials for rejecting peace offers and launching the Second Intifada, an uprising in which ******** attacks ******* many ******** civilians across the country. ******* struck back by recapturing major ************ cities in the West Bank in devastating battles with militants.

************ leaders insist that ******* was never serious about reaching an agreement and note that most ******** politicians today ******* giving them an independent state at all.

Who controls it now?

In practice, the ******** military wields overriding security control over ************ cities and has the ultimate say on whoever wants to enter or leave the territory. Palestinians suspected of involvement in ********* against Israelis are generally judged in ******** military courts. Lacking full sovereign alternatives, Palestinians buy much of their electricity and water from *******.

Officials from the ************ Authority still administer some local matters: trash collection, education, hospitals and schools. They also have their own local security forces, who coordinate with their ******** counterparts but have limited authority.

Palestinians argue that ******* has managed to continue ruling the West Bank while saddling the Authority with the responsibility to provide services to the territory’s ************ residents. In the past, some accepted this as a necessary step on the path to statehood, but many ******** leaders now ******* the idea of ever allowing Palestinians to have a sovereign state.

Why is there fighting there?

******** troops are in Tulkarm and Jenin to fend off the rising influence of ************ militant groups, who have become increasingly dominant in the northern West Bank. According to the ******** military, roughly 150 attacks were launched at Israelis from the two areas over the past year.

The dwindling hope for a diplomatic end to ******** rule has turbocharged the influence of groups like ****** and Islamic ******, who believe in open-ended armed struggle against *******, including attacks on civilians.

Newer local militias have also sprung up, made up of younger Palestinians who — having lost ****** in a long-moribund peace process — believe that only ********* will advance their cause. At the same time, *******’s regional archnemesis, Iran, has sought to pump in more advanced weaponry in an attempt to spur further unrest.

The ************ Authority, whose leaders are broadly unpopular with the ************ public, has worked closely with ******** security forces to ****** down on the militants. But the increasingly frail body has seen its grip erode, particularly in the northern West Bank, such as in ******** camps in Tulkarm and Jenin.

******** military officials often say they would prefer to see ************ officers arrest the militants. But as long as the armed groups continue to plot attacks unhindered, ******** soldiers will raid the cities to get at them, they say.

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