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Last week, amid a combined speech by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Knesset, fellow lawmaker Ayman Odeh and I raised a banner calling for the acknowledgment of Palestine. We were forcibly removed from the legislative assembly, revealing the weak state of what's frequently described as the "sole democratic state in the region". How can officials talk about regional peace while refusing to recognize a population deprived of fundamental liberties and rights under decades-long military control?

The Reality in the West Bank

Nowhere is the deceit more apparent than in the occupied West Bank. There, talk of reconciliation sound remote and faint, while the frightening sounds of settler violence and terror continue strongly. Over 30 incidents of violence by settlers against Palestinian civilians have been recorded since the unveiling of the Trump administration's 20-point plan in September's end, featuring attacks, stealing of agricultural produce, and torching of cars and property.

Systematic Violence During Agricultural Period

The increase in violence by colonists is not coincidental. This period signals the beginning of agricultural harvesting. Beyond a crucial economic activity, it constitutes an important communal and cultural moment that demonstrates resilience under military rule. Precisely for these causes, year after year settlers attack Palestinian farmers during this crucial time. During the 2024 harvest period, rights groups recorded 113 separate cases of aggression, harassment, preventing harvesting, or damage to olive trees and produce by Israeli civilians and soldiers, which took place on lands owned by 51 Palestinian communities, towns, and communities.

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

Yesh Din also discovered that "Israeli security forces seemed to have had a greater part in hindering the harvesting season". In approximately 70% of instances where access to lands was forcibly prevented, troops, border police officers, and settlement civilian security coordinators were actually on site. They either directly prevented Palestinians from accessing and harvesting their own lands, or neglected to prevent colonists who threatened or attacked them.

Political Support for Colonization

This comes as no surprise, as the leader of the settlers' political party, Bezalel Smotrich, was appointed 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 special military coordination team removed personally-owned olive plants of Palestinians, citing missing documentation, but overlooked violations by an illegal nearby settler outpost. Last week, the local court decided to halt all building work in the encampment, which was built on property taken by Israeli authorities and unlawfully given to colonists.

Takeover Ambitions and Global Response

In the occupied West Bank, settler terrorism is nothing but a tool used by the government to pursue de-facto incorporation. Recently, Smotrich headed a procession of many of colonists in support of taking over the West Bank. He was reported as stating, "We persist to take hold with our presence of the Land of Israel with many pioneers, numerous heroes, and countless of settlers who live in this part of the land ... we must to normalize it and make it eternal."

The settlers and their supporters in the Knesset are explicit about their intentions and intentions. Why, then, do political leaders in the west hesitate from meaningful penalties and diplomatic measures? Smotrich was penalized by the United Kingdom in June, but the effect of the penalty has been limited. He may not be permitted to go to the UK and visit the West End, but he still maintains the ministerial power to take territories in the West Bank. Remarkably in the declaration of sanctions, the British government emphasized they take place "in his personal capacity" solely.

Global Recognition and Reality

If the UK government acknowledges the reality of colonist aggression and its grave consequences on Palestinian existence, why does it still allow goods from settlements to be marketed in stores and shops in Britain? If Starmer is serious about recognition of Palestine as a state, how come he allow the Israeli government to breach its sovereignty with such violent means? Or was the recognition an empty ploy to silence opposition in the United Kingdom, a hollow gesture only to be implemented in the rebranding of some cartographic representations?

Route Toward Genuine Peace

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

True peace demands an sovereign Palestinian state alongside Israel: this is the sole formula that has consensus among the global community, the Palestinian leadership, and the Israeli peace camp.

The former US president may have inflicted influence on Netanyahu to stop the violence, but he probably only did so because the strain of his connection with the pariah regime of the Israeli PM had become too great. The mass protests across the globe for the liberation of Palestinian territories, and the persistent anti-government protests within Israel, are the actual factors behind this pressure.

It is thanks to this enormous civil movement that a truce has been signed, the hostages released, and the people of the territory can experience protection from destruction. Following the truce arrangement has been finalized, it is crucial to continue maintaining this influence. The world has ignored to the atrocities in Gaza for many years; it must not repeat the same error in the occupied territories.