Municipalities and Councils - Australians for Palestine

The Fallacy of Area B
In the distinct nature of Palestinian life,
the fate of communities is variably shaped
by where we are from, which documents we
hold and which license plates they entitle us
to, which system we are allowed to function
in, and in whose charge we ultimately find
ourselves.
The lines that define these prisms are
often blurred and misleading. Palestinian
society is impeded from functioning properly
because nothing is ever stable, and nothing
is as it seems. The distinct guidelines, which
distinguish the spaces we occupy, only exist
when the parties in power wish them to exist;
they disappear whenever it is convenient.
There are no strict regulations because there
is no real accountability.
The system that was set up by the Oslo
Accords in 1995, in which the West Bank
was carved up into Areas A, B, and C, is only
the most manifest example of this condition.
Divided into zones of varying civilian and
security administration, between occupied
and occupier, this regime enters into spatial
absurdity.
Even Area A, which is nominally under the
full control of the Palestinian Authority, holds
nothing sacred. Its supposed sovereignty is
constantly being infringed upon by the Israeli
military, which reoccupied the entire West
Bank during the second Intifada and carry
out raids on a consistent basis to this day.
Area C, which is under the full control of
Israel, is being systematically cleansed of its
inhabitants to make way for more and more
Jewish settlements. It is here that Israel’s
occupation has entrenched itself most fully
over the past two decades since the Oslo
Accords were signed. Because portions of
Area C ultimately surround every Palestinian
population centre, the occupation essentially
remains in place as long as Israel controls
freedom of movement and access from one
point of Area A to another.
Yet Area B is where the mystery truly lies.
Comprising nearly a quarter of the West
Bank, this portion of land was supposedly
46
Artwork by Ahmad Al-Nimir.
By Omar Rahman
slated for full transfer to Palestinian control.
Now it remains frozen in time, a fixture
agreed on in temporary terms that has
perpetuated indefinitely. It is often between
communities that Area B arises, giving the
Israeli military the legal authority (as if they
needed it) to instantly cut off one Palestinian
community from another.
This was on clear display during the
second Intifada when the Israeli military
dug trenches and established a checkpoint
between Ramallah and Birzeit near the
entrance to the village of Surda, preventing
all the residents of the northern Ramallah
villages from entering the city except by
foot, and vice versa. Young, old, pregnant,
and infirm were forced to trudge in sun and
snow to reach hospitals, schools, grocery
stores, and everything else.
The town of Birzeit is also in Area B, and
its civil administration has had to operate
under Israeli security control for nearly two
decades.
“It’s a delicate balance and, depending on
the political atmosphere and the balance of
powers in the negotiations, we see the effect
of that on the ground, sometimes discreetly,
sometimes overtly,” says Mayor Yousef
Nasser. “The Israeli military can come and
go as they please. They can search, put up
checkpoints, arrest, and so forth. They can
enforce a curfew or blockade us if they so
choose.”
Although their role is neither political nor
security-related, the Birzeit Municipality still
runs up against the military establishment
in providing its citizens with public services
and physical development.
“About two years ago we had a water
rehabilitation project to replace old pipes
with new pipes,” says Nasser. “We had to
import everything from Israel. For any pipes
of a certain width we had to get permission
from the military governor, and then we
almost lost the funding because of the long
delay. Luckily we managed to get a permit
just in time.”
In many ways the operation of Area B from
a security standpoint has come to resemble
Bentham’s Panopticon. The Israeli military
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operates from a distance, making their
presence known without using a heavy
hand or always being seen. That the
prisoners know the guards are watching
is enough to make them begin to use selfcensorship.
“The Israelis try their best not to show
their force. If they arrest they do it at night
time,” says Nasser. “We have a checkpoint
here. It is usually smooth. Every week or
ten days they come and show their faces
and remind us that they are still here. There
are also people in the towers continually
watching us.”
The Israeli checkpoint is located on
a sliver of land inside Birzeit that is
designated Area C. For Palestinian police
from the municipality to carry out any
work that requires them to cross through
the checkpoint, they must receive Israeli
military permission beforehand. In the end,
simple tasks that require extra policemen to
cross the portion of Area C can be delayed
for hours or even days.
Area B goes beyond simple frustrations.
Because the land is under Israeli military
control in terms of security, the so-called
security imperative grants Israel the right to
confiscate land for “security purposes.” In
Nabi Saleh, a village northwest of Ramallah,
Israeli settlements continually encroach on
the village’s land with the protection of the
military. All over the West Bank, this same
model repeats itself. People are divided
from their land and their communities by
arbitrary boundaries denoting incongruous
zones of administration. It is enough to
make the anarchist in all of us go stark
raving mad. Looking beyond the scope
of Oslo, the prisms expand into the West
Bank, Gaza, Jerusalem, 1948, refugee
camps, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Europe,
and the Americas. In each place, what an
individual can and cannot do, where an
individual can and cannot go changes.
The mosaic of Palestinian life has become
fractured, because behind all this there are
just people trying to live their lives.
Omar H. Rahman is a freelance journalist
covering the socio-political issues of the
Middle East.