As Netanyahu is scheduled to meet Trump later today, with the pair expected to discuss nuclear talks with Iran, the violence against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza and the West Bank intensifies through relentless attacks and pressure from the genocidal regime.
Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has claimed at least 72,045 lives and wounded 171,686 since October 2023. The so-called “ceasefire” of last October has proven to be merely a recalibration of violence, with at least 591 people killed since the agreement was signed.
Meanwhile, the Israeli government has implemented a series of laws and measures in the West Bank to accelerate Palestinian dispossession, facilitate forcible transfer, and extend the colonial settlement grid deeper into occupied territory.
Only a few days ago, Israel’s security cabinet approved a series of administrative and enforcement measures in Areas A and B of the occupied West Bank to strengthen Israeli control over the territory. According to another report, the plans include allowing Jewish Israelis to directly purchase West Bank land and expanding Israeli control over areas nominally governed by the Palestinian Authority.
The Palestinian presidency has termed the decision “dangerous” and an “open Israeli attempt to legalize settlement expansion.” UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for these measures to be reversed, reiterating what has long been established by the Global Majority: Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank constitute a flagrant violation of international law and relevant UN resolutions.
It is important to recognize that this expansion can only be meaningfully understood as a modern project of settler colonialism. Since Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the June 1967 Six-Day War, the number of illegal settlements has surged.
Today, over 700,000 settlers (10 percent of Israel’s Jewish population) occupy illegal settlements and outposts scattered across the West Bank and East Jerusalem. These are not rogue actors but state instruments as the Israeli government openly finances and constructs these settlements.
Meanwhile, the three million Palestinians who live in the territory endure daily aggression and discrimination—a calculated regime of pressure designed to make life unlivable, to force departure, to clear the land.
The United Nations has documented more than 1,700 settler attacks across the West Bank in 2025, concentrated around Hebron, Nablus, and Ramallah. Masafer Yatta has been among the hardest hit, with rural communities facing sustained displacement pressure.
The situation in Palestine remains dire. Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has not stopped. The so-called ‘ceasefire’ proved to be merely a shift in tactics, not a cessation of violence.
The meeting between Netanyahu and Trump, therefore, is nothing but a convening of two architects of aggression. It’s a consultation between patron and client, between the imperial power and its colonial outpost. There can be no genuine peace talks while Israel continues to violate international law and peace agreements, and while innocent Palestinian blood continues to be shed.
