Israel is methodically dismantling any Palestinian presence in most of the West Bank and erasing Palestine from the map. But the way it’s unfolding doesn’t make the headlines.
Sam Abu Haikal was riding in his parents’ car through Hebron when Israeli soldiers opened fire. His mother is in intensive care, and his father, wounded in the hand, buried him alone the next morning. He was only seven months old.
A new Israeli digital registry imposes de facto sovereignty over 60% of the West Bank. Palestinians must register under Israeli authority or risk losing their land, but Israeli legal loopholes are designed to invalidate their claims either way.
As Israel indefinitely withholds Palestinian customs revenues, public hospitals have cut hours and slashed healthcare workers’ salaries. Patients are left to navigate a system running on interns and half-capacity labs.
European governments are finally being forced to condemn Israel as its crimes have become impossible to ignore. But they are scapegoating National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir rather than confronting the system he represents.
Even if Netanyahu and his right-wing allies are ousted from government, Israel’s genocide in Gaza, ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, and the wars against Lebanon and Iran enjoy broad support across the Israeli political spectrum.
The Israeli Knesset is considering a bill that would place Palestinian historical sites in the West Bank under direct Israeli civil law, stripping them of their protected status under international law. Experts say it’s annexation in all but name.
Israel is reviving an obscure 1968 government order to unilaterally seize some 50 properties directly adjacent to the al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Residents say the move is an effort to remove Palestinians and to complete the Judaization of Jerusalem.
The EU just sanctioned violent Israeli settlers and settler groups, but critics call it a “smokescreen” meant to delay imposing sanctions on Israel where it hurts: its longstanding economic relationship with Europe.
After failing to dismantle Hamas, destroy Hezbollah, topple the Iranian government, or redraw the Middle East, Netanyahu and his allies have only one thing left to show for their time in power: the de facto annexation of the West Bank.