What is 'the Battle for Area C'?Generally speaking, it’s a sort of war over whose territory it is and who gets the territory. Essentially, from the Israeli point of view, the idea is, like, prevention or enforcement against illegal Palestinian construction, so the land stays as clear as possible. Meaning, that Area C, which is currently ours, stays as clear as possible of Palestinians and Palestinian construction stays inside [Areas] A and B and doesn’t expand to C. On the other side, there’s actually a Palestinian ministry too, they’re also dealing with the Battle for Area C, which is to build as much as possible in Area C.

Are you saying this because that’s what you were told?Because I was told. I didn’t look into it.

And were you also told that the attempt to get as much of Area C as possible is the Israeli objective?I probably have it written somewhere. I don’t think anyone will say, “our goal is to build in Area C,” because that’s a problem with the outside [international] community, but it was definitely more obvious when Bennett was Minister of Defense. We’re really holding on to these territories. We’re really fighting. It was a war. That’s how they defined it, as a war.

Like all the senior officers?Yes.

And what do you do in this 'battle'? How do you fight?It’s a ton of things. It’s the Civil Administration Enforcement Unit going into the field, looking for illegal structures, infrastructure, and enforcing (issuing demolition orders and demolishing) against whatever it finds. They kept complaining – the Enforcement Unit – all the time, that they didn’t have enough manpower, that they needed more money. Every demolition is a lot of money. You have to rent equipment, you need all sorts, so they needed way more funding and way more manpower, a lot more attention, way more approvals, like, to make their work smoother. That’s as far as the Civil Administration is concerned.

And they (the Enforcement Unit personnel) are civilians?They’re civilians.

And did they get more people?When I was there, they didn’t. They mostly complained. They mostly whined. In reality, they have a huge budget. The way I see it, they have a huge budget, because enforcement is really expensive. Like, I don’t have the professional data, but each day like that costs money. There are trained professionals there that cost money. In terms of staff officers, it’s the biggest unit.

Is he (the head of the Enforcement Unit) a settler?Many of them are, from the staff officers and generally in the Enforcement Unit, I’m pretty sure, 90% sure, they are. Every staff officer also has several staff working for them, so therefore many of them, just for convenience, just live close by...

You mean close to work.That’s their job.