The West Bank is on fire. Over the past several weeks, the Israeli military has carried out repeated, large-scale raids on Palestinian towns with drones and ground forces. Armed settlers targeted Palestinians on a rampage through the town of Jit, while Israeli security forces turned a blind eye. Palestinian communities are being emptied of their people. The violence is omnipresent, and the international community appears determined not to stop it.

But this is not a new story. This latest wave of violence is the inevitable result of what can only be understood as Israel’s decades-long effort to achieve total control over the West Bank. And for too long, Israel’s allies, especially the United States, have studiously underplayed or even ignored the existence of this endeavor.

Some Western officials have recently warned that Palestinians now face the threat of Israel’s “creeping” annexation of the occupied West Bank, as if Israel and its occupation of the Palestinian territory are separate realms. In this view, Israel is a democratic state run by civilian authorities, and the occupation is temporary and run by army generals.

But there is only one regime in Israel-Palestine. The Palestinian Authority controls limited aspects of life in fragmented areas of the West Bank; Israel rules over all the major aspects of life in the territory.

Annexation is not a future prospect; it is a fact of life. Israelis and Palestinians live in a one-state reality.

Internationally, much of the blame for Israel’s current policies is laid at the feet of far-right elements in Israel’s government, such as Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister, and Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister. The United States regards both of them as audacious outsiders who have no place in the political mainstream.