The Occupied West Bank: Three Years Since October Seventh
Three years after October 7, 2023, the West Bank has become a daily reality of suffocation, with increasing pressure on Palestinians caught between an occupation imposing facts on the ground and an authority that limits itself to statements. The article addresses the suffering of farmers in the third olive harvest season under settler terrorism, highlighting the gap between international condemnation and the absence of action, questioning the effectiveness of official Palestinian moves.
Three years after October 7, 2023, the West Bank is no longer experiencing a passing crisis but a reality that grows more suffocating by the day, where daily life has turned into an open battle with no rules of engagement. The article discusses the suffering of farmers in the third olive harvest season, which has shifted from a season of livelihood to a daily confrontation with settler terrorism and restrictions on access to land, where farmers lose an entire year of work. It criticizes the official and international habituation to dealing with attacks, where every crime produces a statement and every escalation prompts condemnation, then the media cycle ends and the Palestinian returns to his reality. The article questions the role of the Palestinian Authority, which limits itself to statements and declarations despite its limited tools, and the international silence, which it describes as the gap between knowing what is happening and refraining from taking sufficient steps to stop it. It points to limited international measures such as the positions of the Netherlands and Britain regarding settlements, wondering whether they will turn into sustained pressure or remain within the bounds of diplomatic disagreements. The article concludes that the West Bank needs to break the cycle of crime, condemnation, and forgetting, and needs organized political, legal, and diplomatic action that translates declared positions into concrete steps.