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Last Monday, during a combined speech by US President Donald Trump and Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli parliament, colleague lawmaker Ayman Odeh and I displayed a banner urging the recognition of Palestine. We were violently ejected from the legislative assembly, revealing the weak state of what's frequently described as the "only democracy in the region". How can leaders talk about regional peace while refusing to recognize a population denied of fundamental freedoms and rights under long-standing occupation?

The Reality in the West Bank

In no place is the hypocrisy more apparent than in the occupied West Bank. There, words of peace sound distant and faint, while the terrifying echoes of colonist attacks and intimidation persist loudly. More than 30 incidents of settler aggression against Palestinian civilians have been documented since the unveiling of the US peace proposal in late September, featuring physical assaults, theft of agricultural produce, and burning of cars and property.

Targeted Aggression During Harvest Season

The increase in violence by colonists is deliberate. This time signals the beginning of agricultural harvesting. More than a crucial economic activity, it represents an important communal and national occasion that shows endurance under occupation. Exactly for these reasons, annually colonists attack Palestinian farmers during this precious time. During the 2024 harvest season, human rights organizations recorded 113 separate incidents of violence, harassment, harvest-thwarting, or destruction to olive groves and produce involving settlers and soldiers, which took place on lands belonging to 51 Palestinian communities, towns, and areas.

Israeli military seemed to have had a larger part in hindering the olive harvest

Yesh Din also discovered that "Israeli military appeared to have played a greater part in obstructing the harvesting season". In approximately 70% of instances where entry to farmland was forcibly blocked, soldiers, border police officers, and settler civilian security coordinators were actually on site. They either directly stopped Palestinian farmers from accessing and harvesting their property, or failed to prevent colonists who harassed or assaulted them.

Government Support for Colonization

This is no surprise, as the head of the settlers' political party, Bezalel Smotrich, was appointed as an extra official in the Defense Ministry responsible for the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. In Umm al-Khair, for example, a particular COGAT unit removed private olive plants of Palestinians, claiming lack of permits, but ignored infractions by an unauthorized adjacent settler outpost. Last week, the Jerusalem district court decided to stop all construction in the outpost, which was constructed on property taken by Israel and illegally given to colonists.

Takeover Goals and International Response

In the controlled West Bank, settler terrorism is simply a tool used by the administration to achieve de-facto annexation. Recently, Smotrich led a march of thousands of colonists in favor of taking over the West Bank. He was reported as saying, "We are continuing to take hold with our presence of the Land of Israel with many settlers, many heroes, and hundreds of thousands of settlers who live in this area of the land ... we need to normalise it and make it eternal."

The colonists and their supporters in the Knesset are explicit about their intentions and intentions. Why, then, do political leaders in the west refrain from substantial sanctions and political actions? Smotrich was penalized by the UK in the summer, but the impact of the sanction has been limited. He may not be able to travel to the United Kingdom and visit the West End, but he still enjoys the ministerial power to seize territories in the West Bank. Even in the declaration of penalties, the UK emphasized they apply "in his personal capacity" only.

Global Acknowledgment and Reality

If the British administration acknowledges the truth of settler violence and its serious consequences on Palestinian life, why does it still allow goods from settlements to be sold in markets and outlets in the UK? If the British leader is serious about recognition of Palestine as a sovereign entity, how come he allow the Israeli government to violate its independence with such violent means? Or was the recognition an hollow ploy to shut down dissenting voices in the UK, a hollow act only to be realised in the relabeling of some cartographic representations?

Route Toward True Peace

A just peace must respect the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people for self-determination, independence, and freedom from military occupation and blockade. Only when every person's worth between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea is honored can we truly say reconciliation has been attained.

True resolution demands an sovereign Palestinian nation alongside Israel: this is the only solution that enjoises agreement among the global community, the Palestinian national movement, and the Israeli peace advocates.

Trump may have inflicted pressure on the Israeli leader to halt the genocide, but he likely only did so because the strain of his relationship with the isolated government of Netanyahu had become excessive. The mass protests across the globe for the freedom of Palestine, and the unwavering opposition protests inside Israel, are the real forces behind this influence.

It is due to this massive civil movement that a truce has been agreed, the captives freed, and the residents of the territory can enjoy protection from annihilation. Following the truce arrangement has been signed, it is vital to continue applying this pressure. The world has turned a blind eye to the atrocities in the strip for many years; it must not make the same error in the West Bank.