Pursuant to the Oslo Accords, Judea and Samaria are divided into three parts: Area A, administered by the Palestinian Authority (PA); Area B, under joint Israeli-PA control; and Area C, under Israeli control. The last has a Jewish population of about 400,000—mostly concentrated in a few blocs of towns and villages near Jerusalem—and a Palestinian population of about half that number. With assistance from foreign governments and organizations, the PA has been systematically encouraging the construction of Arab homes and villages there, in violation of the Accords. Yaakov Eliraz explains:

Yesterday, eleven months of political stalemate in Israel appeared to have come to an end as the sitting prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his main rival, Benny Gantz, agreed to form a unity government together with some of the smaller parties. This development has fractured Gantz’s Blue and White party into its constituent factions. Meanwhile, the resignation of Yuli Edelstein as interim Knesset speaker—a position meant to be occupied for just a few hours, but which he has held for nearly a year—has allowed the Knesset to resume business as usual.