Area A

Area A (Arabic: منطقة أ, romanized: minṭaqa alif; Hebrew: שטח א, romanized: Shetakh A) is an area under the civil and security control of the Palestinian National Authority. It represents about 18% of the area and 55% of the population of the West Bank.^[1]

Area A منطقة أ שטח א
West Bank area under the Oslo II Accord
The shaded areas represent Area A
Established	1995
Largest city	Nablus (156,906)
Currency	Israeli new shekel Jordanian dinar

A sign warning Israelis against entry into Area A

The largest cities in Area A include the following cities and their surroundings: Nablus, Jenin, Tulkarm, Qalqilya, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jericho, and 80% of Hebron. There are no Israeli settlements in Area A.^[2]

History

During the first phase of the implementation of the Oslo Accords in 1995, Area A comprised 3% of the West Bank excluding East Jerusalem.^[3]

In 1997, the Hebron Protocol divided the city of Hebron was divided into two areas: Area H1, representing approximately 80% of the city, was placed under Palestinian civil and security control (equivalent to Area A), while Area H2, representing the remaining 20%, was placed under Palestinian civil and Israeli security control (equivalent to Area B). H2, which is located in the central part of the city and includes the historic center, is home to approximately 40,000 Palestinians (19% of Hebron's population) and 850 Jewish settlers. Another 8,000 Jews live in Kiryat Arba on the outskirts of Hebron.^[4]

Since the start of the Second Intifada in October 2000, Israeli citizens have been completely banned from entering Area A, by order of the IDF's general command. However, the IDF has admitted that in practice, it only ensured that Israeli Jews complied with the ban, and that Israeli Arabs may enter Area A.^[5]

During the Operation Defensive Shield in 2002, the Israeli military lifted the ban on military entry and temporarily reoccupied the area in order to suppress the Second Intifada. Following the end of the Second Intifada in 2005, Israel handed back the sectors of Area A that it controlled back to the Palestinian Authority. Israeli army first withdrew from Jericho,^[6] followed by Tulkarm and Jenin soon afterwards.^[7]

Since then, the Israeli military has regularly entered the area, usually at night, to conduct raids to arrest those suspected of involvement in attacks.^[8] Such raids are typically coordinated with Palestinian National Security Forces.^[9] In recent years, there have been discussion of deepening security cooperation between the IDF and the PA despite lack of diplomatic progress.^[10]

As of 2025, the entry of Israelis into Area A continue to be strictly prohibited by the IDF.^[11]