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Last Monday, amid a joint speech by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli parliament, colleague lawmaker Ayman Odeh and I raised a banner calling for the acknowledgment of the Palestinian state. We were forcibly ejected from the legislative session, revealing the weak condition of what's often described as the "only democracy in the Middle East". How can leaders speak about regional peace while declining to recognize a people denied of basic liberties and rights under decades-long occupation?

The Reality in the Occupied West Bank

In no place is the hypocrisy more apparent than in the occupied West Bank. There, talk of reconciliation sound remote and faint, while the terrifying echoes of settler violence and intimidation persist loudly. More than 30 occurrences of settler aggression against Palestinian civilians have been recorded since the announcement of the US 20-point plan in September's end, featuring physical assaults, stealing of agricultural produce, and torching of cars and property.

Systematic Aggression During Harvest Season

The rise in settler terrorism is not coincidental. This period signals the beginning of harvest seasons. More than a crucial economic activity, it constitutes an important communal and cultural occasion that demonstrates endurance under military rule. Precisely for these causes, year after year colonists attack Palestinian farmers during this crucial period. During the 2024 harvest period, human rights organizations recorded 113 separate incidents of aggression, harassment, preventing harvesting, or destruction to olive groves and crops involving settlers and military personnel, which took place on territories owned by 51 Palestinian-owned communities, towns, and communities.

Israeli military seemed to have had a greater role in obstructing the olive harvest

Yesh Din also discovered that "Israeli military appeared to have had a greater role in hindering the harvesting season". In approximately 70% of cases where entry to lands was violently blocked, troops, border police officers, and settler security officials were actually on site. They either personally stopped Palestinians from reaching and gathering their property, or failed to prevent colonists who threatened or attacked them.

Political Support for Settler Activities

This is no surprise, as the leader of the colonists' political movement, Bezalel Smotrich, was named as an extra official in the Ministry of Defence in charge of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. In Umm al-Khair, for instance, a particular military coordination team removed private olive trees of Palestinians, citing lack of permits, but ignored violations by an illegal nearby colonist encampment. Last week, the local court ruled to halt all construction in the encampment, which was constructed on property seized by Israeli authorities and illegally transferred to colonists.

Annexation Ambitions and International Reaction

In the controlled West Bank, settler terrorism is nothing but a tool used by the government to pursue practical annexation. Recently, Smotrich headed a procession of many of colonists in support of annexation the West Bank. He was quoted as saying, "We are continuing to establish presence with our presence of the Land of Israel with numerous pioneers, many heroes, and countless of settlers who live in this part of the territory ... we must to normalise it and establish it permanently."

The colonists and their supporters in the parliament are explicit about their intentions and goals. Why, then, do political leaders in the west hesitate from meaningful penalties and political actions? Smotrich was sanctioned by the United Kingdom in June, but the effect of the sanction has been limited. He may not be able to travel to the UK and tour the West End, but he still maintains the governmental authority to take territories in the West Bank. Remarkably in the announcement of penalties, the British government highlighted they apply "in his personal capacity" solely.

Global Acknowledgment and Reality

If the UK government acknowledges the truth of colonist aggression and its serious implications on Palestinian existence, why does it still allow settlement produce to be marketed in stores and outlets in the UK? If the British leader is genuine about acknowledging Palestinian statehood as a sovereign entity, how can he allow the Israeli government to violate its independence with such violent means? Or was the recognition an empty tactic to silence dissenting voices in the UK, a hollow gesture only to be realised in the relabeling of some maps?

Route Toward True Peace

A just peace must respect the basic rights of the Palestinian population for self-recognition, independence, and freedom from military occupation and siege. Only when every person's dignity between the Jordan River and sea is honored can we truly say peace has been attained.

True peace requires an independent Palestinian nation alongside the Israeli state: this is the only formula that enjoises agreement among the international community, the Palestinian leadership, and the Israeli peace advocates.

The former US president may have inflicted influence on Netanyahu to halt the genocide, but he probably only did so because the strain of his relationship with the pariah regime of the Israeli PM had become too great. The large demonstrations throughout the globe for the freedom of Palestinian territories, and the persistent anti-government demonstrations within Israel, are the real forces behind this influence.

It is thanks to this enormous public campaign that a ceasefire has been agreed, the captives freed, and the people of Gaza can experience safeguard from destruction. Following the ceasefire agreement has been signed, it is crucial to continue applying this influence. The world has ignored to the atrocities in the strip for many years; it must not repeat the same mistake in the West Bank.