Contrary to US policy, ambassador Huckabee says West Bank's Area C 'is Israel'

US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, contradicted decades of US policy by claiming that Area C of the occupied West Bank is part of Israel, in an interview with US podcaster Tucker Carlson aired on Friday.

Huckabee’s claim on the occupied West Bank was overshadowed by an even more expansive vision for Israel that he shared, saying he would be “fine” if Israel took over a large swath of the Middle East, including Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Egypt.

That statement drew a sharp rebuke from the US’s Arab and Muslim partners, who said the US’s top diplomat to Israel was employing “dangerous and inflammatory” rhetoric.

But Huckabee was even more affirmative when discussing the occupied West Bank.

“These are Israelis who live in Israel. Area C is Israel,” he told Carlson.

Middle East Eye reached out to the State Department for comment on long-standing US policy in Area C, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Huckabee’s statement is a glaring contradiction of official US policy, which does not recognise any Israeli sovereignty over the occupied West Bank.

The West Bank was carved into Areas A, B and C during the 1990s Oslo Peace process, which established the Palestinian Authority out of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO).

In return for limited self-government in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, the PLO recognised Israel and renounced armed resistance. The Palestinian Authority was supposed to exercise full control of Area A and limited control of Area B, while Area C would remain under Israeli military occupation until the signing of a final peace agreement.

Area C comprises roughly 60 percent of the occupied West Bank and envelops all the other areas, making a contiguous Palestinian state virtually impossible.

From 'de facto' to 'de jure' annexation

Over the last twenty years, Israeli settlements have mushroomed in Area C. Israeli authorities and settler groups have treated Area C as being under Israel's permanent control. 

Arab states slam Huckabee remarks on Israel's divine right to all Middle East

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Israeli forces have uprooted tens of thousands of trees planted by Palestinians, attacked livestock, confiscated Palestinian construction equipment and demolished homes and structures. According to the United Nations, over 70 percent of Palestinian "communities located entirely or mostly in Area C are not connected to the water network and rely on tankered water at vastly increased cost".

Khaled Elgindy, a senior research fellow in the Middle East programme at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, told MEE that Huckabee had said the quiet part out loud.

“They are already treating the entirety of the West Bank as though it were under Israeli sovereignty,” he said.

MEE reported in September that US and Israeli officials discussed potentially annexing the Jordan Valley, which comprises most of Area C, in response to efforts by states at the UN to recognise a Palestinian state.

'Red line'

The US’s Arab partners lobbied against annexation, calling it “a red line”. In response, US President Donald Trump publicly pledged, “I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank”.

But Elgindy told MEE that Huckabee’s statement represented ground realities.

“Israel does not need a piece of paper signed at a grand ceremony saying they annexed the West Bank. Annexation is not how it's going to happen that way,” he said. “We have already crossed over from de facto to de jure annexation,” he said.

In May 2025, the Israeli cabinet agreed to take over responsibility for Area C’s land registry, making any Palestinian Authority efforts to recognise land using its own registry legally void. 

Roughly 400,000 Israeli settlers live in Area C, where they enjoy access to services and political representation that Palestinians are deprived of, creating what critics say is an apartheid state.

Israel is also stepping up control over Areas A and B.

In February, the government approved a plan for Israel to make and enforce decisions on civilian matters in Areas A and B, directly undermining Palestinian Authority control.

Last week, the government also advanced plans for a new settlement that would effectively expand Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries into the occupied West Bank. Israel illegally annexed Jerusalem in 1980.