Sahin Demir

07 September 2026•Update: 07 September 2026

Israel’s finance minister has declared the Oslo Accords “null and void” and claimed that Areas A and B of the occupied West Bank also belong to Israel, while calling for the dismantling of the Palestinian Authority.

Speaking at a conference on Sunday, Bezalel Smotrich, who also heads the Religious Zionism party, acknowledged that his position differs from that of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“In any case, Oslo is null and void. In any case, Areas A and B are also ours,” he said.

“That is a dispute with the prime minister,” he added.

Smotrich said Netanyahu had, to his knowledge, ordered the evacuation of sites established in Areas A and B, a decision he opposed.

“Netanyahu, to the best of my knowledge, gave an instruction to evacuate places established in Areas A and B. I don’t like that instruction,” he said.

The far-right Cabinet minister also called for dismantling the Palestinian Authority, calling it a “terrorist entity” and accusing it of encouraging and financing attacks and inciting against Israel.

Smotrich also predicted a major Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank.

“There will be no avoiding a war in Judea and Samaria in the near future, in which we will disarm all the Arabs in Judea and Samaria,” he said, using the biblical name for the occupied West Bank.

He claimed that there were significantly more weapons in the territory than Israeli authorities acknowledge, arguing that Israel should assess its adversaries according to their capabilities rather than their intentions.

Smotrich also highlighted Israeli measures in Area C, citing the expansion of communities and farms, road construction, land declarations, and thousands of housing units, as well as changes to legal and administrative mechanisms governing the territory.

The West Bank was divided into Areas A, B and C under the 1995 Oslo II Accord. Area A is under Palestinian administrative and security control, Area B is under Palestinian administration and Israeli security control, while Area C, which makes up about 60% of the West Bank, is under full Israeli control.

Israel has occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since 1967.