The Mar-a-Lago meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ended with a rare public admission of discord: the two leaders do not see "eye to eye" on the future of the occupied West Bank. However, while Trump may have requested Netanyahu to avoid "provocative steps" and calm tensions in the region, the fundamental U.S. support for Israel’s ongoing policy of de facto annexation through settlement expansion and settler violence remains unchanged. This dynamic ultimately deepens the dispossession of Palestinians, undermines the prospect of a sovereign state, and reveals a consensus of goals, not a genuine rift.
For Netanyahu, the public disagreement served a domestic purpose, projecting strength to his hard-right coalition by showing he could manage American pressure. Yet, despite these theatrics, the Israeli prime minister failed to secure his key objectives from the meeting, such as U.S. approval for a solo strike on Iran. Meanwhile, the U.S. administration's concerns appear driven not by human rights or international law, but by strategic calculations. Senior U.S. officials worry that escalating violence in the West Bank could sabotage their efforts to implement the Gaza ceasefire agreement and expand the Abraham Accords. This frames Palestinian suffering as an inconvenient obstacle to a broader U.S. geopolitical vision, not as a central injustice requiring resolution.
The context of the meeting is an unprecedented acceleration of Israel’s settlement project. In just the past three years, Israel has approved 69 new settlement outposts, including 22 in May 2025 alone, the largest expansion in decades. In December 2025, Israel’s security cabinet legalized 19 more settlements, many deep within the West Bank and including areas evacuated in 2005. These are not random acts but part of a coordinated strategy. The far-right Israeli government, including figures like Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, has explicitly stated its goal is to “block on the ground the establishment of a Palestinian terror state”.
The human cost of this expansion is systematic and devastating. Settlements are connected by Israeli-only highways, fragmenting Palestinian territory and complicating daily life with roadblocks and checkpoints. Meanwhile, armed settlers, often accompanied by Israeli soldiers, carry out near-daily attacks on Palestinian civilians, targeting farmers, burning homes, and seizing land. The violence has surged since the war in Gaza began, with the United Nations recording settler attacks on Palestinians nearly 3,000 times over two years. This campaign of violence and intimidation serves as a tool for the forced displacement of Palestinian communities, particularly in the agriculturally vital Jordan Valley.
Despite mild expressions of concern, the United States continues to provide the diplomatic and political cover that enables this annexation. President Trump’s Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has publicly defended the establishment of new settlements. More consequentially, upon taking office, President Trump lifted Biden-era sanctions on violent settlers and revoked policies that deemed settlements an impediment to peace. While Trump has stated that he would not allow formal Israeli annexation of the West Bank, his administration's actions have greenlit the very policies that make annexation a daily reality for Palestinians.
The international community, including key European allies, has roundly condemned Israel’s settlement policy. Twelve European nations, along with Canada and Japan, issued a joint statement declaring the new settlements a violation of international law that risks fueling instability. This stance is anchored in international law: the United Nations, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and the International Committee of the Red Cross all consider Israeli settlements illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention. In a landmark 2024 advisory opinion, the ICJ ruled Israel's occupation, settlement activity, and annexation measures unlawful and demanded they end "as rapidly as possible". The U.S. has consistently shielded Israel from accountability for these violations, extending "diplomatic cover" against UN resolutions.
The relentless expansion is deliberately designed to eliminate the geographical contiguity necessary for a viable Palestinian state. Projects like the E1 settlement plan, which aims to connect the Ma’ale Adumim settlement to Jerusalem, would effectively split the West Bank in two, a move the UN Secretary-General has warned would be a "calamitous development". The result is a fragmented archipelago of Palestinian enclaves surrounded by expanding Israeli settlements and military control. As Israeli settlements proliferate, they are physically erasing the map of a future Palestine, making the internationally endorsed two-state solution impossible to implement.
For Palestinians living under this regime, life is defined by systemic inequality, violence, and a collapsing economy. They are subject to Israeli military law in a dual legal system, while settlers enjoy the rights of Israeli civilians. The goal, as articulated by Israeli leaders, is clear: “There will be no Palestinian state”. The Mar-a-Lago meeting, with its performative disagreement, does nothing to alter this trajectory. It demonstrates that while the U.S. may occasionally fret about the symptoms of the occupation, its fundamental alliance ensures Israel faces no meaningful consequences for the policies that perpetuate it, leaving Palestinians with diminishing hope and dwindling land.