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Last week, during a joint speech by American leader Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Knesset, fellow lawmaker Ayman Odeh and I raised a banner urging the acknowledgment of the Palestinian state. We were violently ejected from the legislative assembly, revealing the weak state of what's often described as the "sole democracy in the region". How can officials speak about Middle East peace while refusing to acknowledge a population denied of basic liberties and entitlements under long-standing occupation?

The Reality in the Occupied West Bank

Nowhere is the deceit more apparent than in the controlled West Bank. There, words of peace sound remote and weak, while the terrifying echoes of colonist attacks and terror persist strongly. Over 30 incidents of violence by settlers against Palestinian civilians have been recorded since the announcement of the US 20-point plan in September's end, including attacks, theft of agricultural produce, and torching of cars and belongings.

Systematic Aggression During Agricultural Period

The rise in settler terrorism is deliberate. This period signals the start of harvest seasons. More than a crucial economic activity, it represents an significant communal and national occasion that demonstrates endurance under military rule. Exactly for these reasons, annually colonists attack Palestinian farmers throughout this crucial period. During the 2024 harvest season, rights groups documented 113 separate cases of aggression, harassment, harvest-thwarting, or damage to olive groves and produce by settlers and soldiers, which occurred on territories belonging to 51 Palestinian-owned communities, towns, and areas.

Israeli security forces seemed to have played a greater part in obstructing the olive harvest

Yesh Din also found that "Israel's security forces appeared to have had a larger role in hindering the olive harvest". In approximately 70% of instances where access to lands was violently blocked, soldiers, border guards, and settler civilian security coordinators were actually present. They either directly stopped Palestinians from accessing and gathering their property, or neglected to prevent colonists who harassed or assaulted them.

Political Support for Colonization

This is no surprise, as the leader of the colonists' political movement, Bezalel Smotrich, was appointed as an additional 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 COGAT unit uprooted personally-owned olive plants of Palestinians, citing lack of permits, but ignored violations by an unauthorized adjacent colonist encampment. Last week, the local court decided to halt all building work in the encampment, which was built on lands taken by Israeli authorities and illegally given to colonists.

Annexation Ambitions and International Response

In the controlled West Bank, colonist violence is simply a instrument used by the government to pursue de-facto incorporation. Earlier this month, Smotrich headed a march of many of settlers in support of annexation the West Bank. He was quoted as saying, "We persist to establish presence with our feet of the Land of Israel with many settlers, many champions, and countless of settlers who live in this area of the land ... we must to normalize it and establish it permanently."

The colonists and their backers in the Knesset are clear about their intentions and intentions. Why, then, do government officials in the west hesitate from meaningful penalties and diplomatic measures? Smotrich was sanctioned by the UK in the summer, but the impact of the sanction has been minimal. He may not be permitted to go to the UK and tour the West End, but he still maintains the ministerial power to seize territories in the West Bank. Even in the announcement of penalties, the British government emphasized they apply "in his personal capacity" only.

International Recognition and Actual Situation

If the British administration acknowledges the reality of colonist aggression and its grave implications on Palestinian life, why does it still permit settlement produce to be sold in stores and shops in the UK? If Starmer is genuine about acknowledging Palestinian statehood as a state, how can he allow the Israeli administration to violate its sovereignty with such violent means? Or was the recognition an empty tactic to shut down dissenting voices in the United Kingdom, a meaningless gesture only to be implemented in the rebranding of some maps?

Route Toward True Resolution

A just peace must honor the basic entitlements of the Palestinian population for self-recognition, sovereignty, and freedom from occupation and siege. Only when each person's dignity between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea is honored can we truly say reconciliation has been achieved.

True resolution demands an independent Palestinian nation next to the Israeli state: this is the only formula that enjoises agreement among the global community, the Palestinian leadership, and the Israeli peace advocates.

Trump may have applied influence on Netanyahu to halt the genocide, but he probably only did so because the burden of his connection with the pariah regime of the Israeli PM had become too great. The large demonstrations throughout the world for the liberation of Palestine, and the persistent anti-government protests inside Israel, are the real forces behind this pressure.

It is due to this massive civil movement that a ceasefire has been signed, the captives freed, and the people of the territory can experience safeguard from annihilation. After the ceasefire agreement has been finalized, it is vital to continue applying this influence. The world has turned a blind eye to the violence in Gaza for too long; it must not make the same error in the West Bank.