In January, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken touched down in Israel at a time when prospects for reviving the so-called peace process looked grimmer than ever. A week before his arrival, Israeli forces killed nine Palestinians during a raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank. The next day, a Palestinian opened fire on Israeli settlers in the illegal settlement of Neve Yaakov in occupied East Jerusalem, killing seven people.
The surge in violence was the consequence of disturbing wider trends. 2022 saw the most Palestinians killed by Israelis since 2006 and the election of a far-right Israeli governing coalition with prominent members openly calling for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians—not o mention an unprecedented
