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Last week, amid a joint address by American leader Donald Trump and Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli parliament, fellow parliamentarian Ayman Odeh and I raised a banner urging the recognition of Palestine. We were forcibly ejected from the parliamentary assembly, exposing the weak state of what's frequently portrayed as the "sole democratic state in the Middle East". How can officials speak about regional peace while refusing to acknowledge a population deprived of basic liberties and entitlements under long-standing occupation?

The Situation in the West Bank

Nowhere is the hypocrisy more evident than in the controlled West Bank. There, words of reconciliation seem distant and faint, while the terrifying echoes of settler violence and intimidation persist strongly. Over 30 incidents of violence by settlers against Palestinian civilians have been documented since the announcement of the US 20-point plan in late September, featuring physical assaults, stealing of agricultural produce, and torching of vehicles and belongings.

Systematic Aggression During Agricultural Period

The rise in settler terrorism is deliberate. This time marks the start of harvest seasons. More than a crucial economic activity, it represents an important social and national occasion that shows resilience under occupation. Exactly for these causes, year after year colonists attack Palestinians during this precious time. During the last year's agricultural period, human rights organizations recorded 113 separate cases of violence, intimidation, preventing harvesting, or destruction to olive groves and crops involving Israeli civilians and military personnel, which occurred on lands belonging to 51 Palestinian-owned communities, municipalities, and communities.

Israel's military seemed to have had a larger part in obstructing the olive harvest

The human rights group also discovered that "Israel's military appeared to have played a greater role in obstructing the harvesting season". In approximately 70% of cases where entry to farmland was forcibly blocked, troops, border guards, and settler security officials were actually present. They either personally stopped Palestinians from reaching and harvesting their property, or neglected to prevent colonists who harassed or attacked them.

Government Support for Settler Activities

This is no surprise, as the head of the colonists' political movement, Bezalel Smotrich, was named 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 uprooted personally-owned olive trees of local residents, citing missing documentation, but ignored violations by an illegal nearby settler outpost. Last week, the local court decided to halt all construction in the outpost, which was constructed on lands taken by Israeli authorities and illegally transferred to settlers.

Annexation Goals and International Response

In the occupied West Bank, colonist violence is nothing but a tool used by the administration to achieve practical incorporation. Recently, Smotrich led a march of thousands of settlers in favor of taking over the West Bank. He was quoted as stating, "We persist to establish presence with our presence of the Land of Israel with many settlers, many champions, and hundreds of thousands of settlers who reside in this part of the land ... we need to normalize it and establish it permanently."

The settlers and their backers in the parliament are explicit about their motives and intentions. Why, then, do government officials in the Western nations hesitate from meaningful sanctions and political actions? Smotrich was sanctioned by the UK in the summer, but the effect of the penalty has been minimal. He may not be permitted to go to the United Kingdom and tour the West End, but he still maintains the governmental authority to seize lands 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 recognizes the truth of settler violence and its grave implications on Palestinian life, why does it still allow settlement produce to be marketed in stores and outlets in the UK? If the British leader is genuine about recognition of Palestine as a state, how come he allow the Israeli government to violate its sovereignty with such aggressive methods? Or was the acknowledgment an hollow tactic to shut down dissenting voices in the United Kingdom, a hollow gesture only to be realised in the rebranding of some maps?

Route Toward Genuine Resolution

A fair peace must respect the basic entitlements of the Palestinian population for self-determination, sovereignty, and freedom from military occupation and blockade. Only when every person's worth across the river and sea is honored can we truly say reconciliation has been attained.

Genuine peace demands an sovereign Palestinian nation next to Israel: this is the sole solution that enjoises agreement among the international community, the Palestinian national movement, and the Israeli peace advocates.

Trump may have inflicted pressure on Netanyahu to stop the genocide, but he likely only did so because the burden of his connection with the isolated government of the Israeli PM had become excessive. The mass protests throughout the globe for the liberation of Palestine, and the unwavering opposition protests inside Israel, are the real forces behind this influence.

It is due to this massive public campaign that a truce has been signed, the captives freed, and the people of Gaza can experience safeguard from annihilation. Following the ceasefire agreement has been finalized, it is crucial to keep maintaining this influence. The world has turned a blind eye to the atrocities in Gaza for many years; it must not make the same mistake in the West Bank.