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Last Monday, during a combined speech by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli parliament, fellow lawmaker Ayman Odeh and I raised a banner urging the acknowledgment of Palestine. We were forcibly removed from the parliamentary session, revealing the weak state of what's frequently portrayed as the "only democratic state in the Middle East". How can officials talk about Middle East peace while refusing to acknowledge a population deprived of fundamental liberties and rights under decades-long military control?

The Situation in the West Bank

Nowhere is the deceit more apparent than in the controlled West Bank. There, words of peace sound remote and faint, while the frightening sounds of settler violence and intimidation continue loudly. Over 30 occurrences of settler aggression against Palestinians have been documented since the unveiling of the US peace proposal in late September, including physical assaults, stealing of agricultural produce, and burning of cars and property.

Targeted Violence During Harvest Season

The rise in settler terrorism is not coincidental. This time signals the start of harvest seasons. Beyond a vital economic event, it represents an significant social and cultural moment that shows resilience under occupation. Precisely for these causes, annually colonists attack Palestinian farmers during this precious period. During the 2024 harvest season, rights groups documented 113 separate cases of violence, harassment, preventing harvesting, or destruction to olive trees and crops involving settlers and soldiers, which took place on lands owned by 51 Palestinian villages, municipalities, and communities.

Israel's security forces seemed to have played a greater part in obstructing the olive harvest

The human rights group also discovered that "Israel's military seemed to have had a greater role in obstructing the harvesting season". In about 70% of instances where entry to lands was violently blocked, troops, border guards, and settler civilian security coordinators were physically present. They either personally prevented Palestinians from reaching and gathering their own lands, or failed to prevent colonists who threatened or attacked them.

Government Support for Settler Activities

This is no shock, as the leader of the settlers' political party, Bezalel Smotrich, was named as an additional minister in the Defense Ministry in charge of the territorial coordination unit. In Umm al-Khair, for instance, a special military coordination team uprooted personally-owned olive trees of local residents, claiming missing documentation, but overlooked violations by an illegal adjacent settler outpost. Last week, the Jerusalem district court ruled to halt all construction in the encampment, which was built on lands seized by Israeli authorities and unlawfully transferred to colonists.

Takeover Ambitions and International Reaction

In the occupied West Bank, colonist violence is nothing but a tool used by the administration to pursue practical annexation. Recently, Smotrich led a procession of thousands of settlers in favor of taking over the West Bank. He was reported as saying, "We are continuing to take hold with our feet of the territory with numerous pioneers, many heroes, and hundreds of thousands of colonists who reside in this part of the territory ... we must to normalize it and establish it permanently."

The settlers and their supporters in the parliament are clear about their motives and intentions. Why, then, do government officials in the Western nations hesitate from meaningful penalties and political actions? Smotrich was sanctioned by the United Kingdom in June, but the effect of the sanction has been minimal. He may not be able to go to the UK and tour the West End, but he still maintains the governmental authority to seize lands in the West Bank. Remarkably in the announcement of penalties, the British government highlighted they take place "in his personal capacity" solely.

International Acknowledgment and Reality

If the British administration recognizes the truth of colonist aggression and its serious consequences on Palestinian existence, why does it still allow settlement produce to be sold in markets and shops in the UK? If the British leader is serious about acknowledging Palestinian statehood as a state, how can he permit the Israeli government to breach its independence with such violent means? Or was the acknowledgment an hollow ploy to silence dissenting voices in the United Kingdom, a meaningless gesture only to be implemented in the rebranding of some cartographic representations?

Route Toward Genuine Peace

A just resolution must respect the fundamental entitlements of the Palestinian population for self-recognition, independence, and liberty from occupation and blockade. Only when every human being's worth across the Jordan River and sea is honored can we genuinely say reconciliation has been attained.

Genuine peace requires an independent Palestinian state next to the Israeli state: this is the only formula that has agreement among the global community, the Palestinian national movement, and the Israeli peace camp.

Trump may have inflicted pressure on Netanyahu to halt the violence, but he likely only did so because the burden of his connection with the isolated government of the Israeli PM had become too great. The large demonstrations throughout the world for the freedom of Palestine, and the unwavering opposition demonstrations within the country, are the real factors behind this pressure.

It is due to this massive public campaign that a ceasefire has been agreed, the captives released, and the residents of Gaza can experience safeguard from annihilation. After the truce arrangement has been signed, it is vital to keep maintaining this influence. The international community has turned a blind eye to the atrocities in Gaza for many years; it must not repeat the same error in the occupied territories.