Why annexation is a big deal
This is B'tselem's map of Area C (in red), the figures might no longer be accurate. I made a silent vow that this renewed phase of Tel Aviv Rooftop would keep politics to the absolute minimum. I'm breaking it so soon because annexation is in the air. And annexation is a big deal. The annexation in question is that of Area C of the West Bank, which the Oslo accords placed under full Israeli military and civil control but which international law deems "occupied territory". Area C comprises 62% of the land, all of the Israeli settlements and, depending on who you ask, between 80,000 and almost 300,000 Palestinians. Placing Area C under Israeli sovereignty would leave almost 3 million additional West Bank Palestinians stranded in Areas A and B - an archipelago of disconnected towns and villages. Israel might offer the Palestinian Authority a kind of Bantustan 'autonomy' in these islands but, even in the extremely unlikely event that they wo...