Under pressure from the United States, Israel has been discussing and at least partially implementing a freeze on construction in Yehudah and Shomron (Judea and Samaria), its mountainous heartland. The PA Arab authority there, meanwhile, is doing the the opposite, gearing up for a building drive in areas designated as 'Area C' in the Oslo agreements – even though these areas are under Israeli security and administrative control.
To this end, the PA has been conducting intensive negotiations with the relevant financial institutions and is close to an agreement with banks and contractors for kicking off a large construction drive in two months' time. Speaking with Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper Saturday, PA Minister of Housing and Public Works Muhammad Shatia said that his office would build in “all Palestinian areas” including Area C, because these are “Palestinian territories despite the Israeli control over them.”
Following the PA government's initiative, he said, his office has received more than 50,000 requests for housing units in Area C and it will begin construction, as a first phase, in Shechem and Kalkilya. The apartments are to be marketed at attractive rates because they are being built on what he designated “government lands.”
This activity is part of the policy of strengthening the PA's hold in Area C. At a groundbreaking ceremony for a hospital near Bethlehem this week, PA Prime Minister Salam Fayad said that the PA does not see any difference between Areas A, B or C, and that it objects to the Israel claim that Area C is a disputed zone. “While Israel invades A Areas by military force, we invade C Areas through construction,” he explained.