The Jewish outpost of Migron in the West Bank. Photo: Daniel Ventura.

As Jewish families comply with the court-ordered evacuation of the West Bank community of Migron, illegal Palestinian building continues in areas that are under Israeli jurisdiction.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) planned to have all Jewish homes in Migron vacated by Sunday evening, two days earlier than the Sept. 4 deadline, according to Israel Radio.

Meanwhile, in the West Bank’s Area C—where under the 1993 Oslo Accords, Israel has full administrative and security control, and allocation of final sovereignty is to be determined in negotiations between the Jewish state and the Palestinian Authority (PA)—the PA is attempting to wrestle control away from Israel.

Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled June 7 that Palestinians were living illegally on Israeli state land in the newly created Arab village of Khirbet Sussiya in Area C, yet the village is not being evacuated like Migron.

Ari Briggs of the Regavim think tank wrote in a column for the Jerusalem Post that the statements of PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad on Area C have “made his intentions very clear.”

“Many think that zone ‘C’ areas have become disputed territories rather than occupied territories in the public consciousness,” Briggs quoted Fayyad as saying in 2009. “We assert that these are Palestinian National Authority territories where the state will be established.”

While Palestinians say they are building illegally because they have been granted too few building permits by Israel, the Israeli Civil Administration in the West Bank has in reality approved more than 100 town plans in Area C over the last decade, Briggs noted.