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Last Monday, during a joint speech by American leader Donald Trump and Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli parliament, fellow lawmaker Ayman Odeh and I raised a banner calling for the recognition of the Palestinian state. We were violently ejected from the parliamentary session, exposing the weak state of what's frequently described as the "only democracy in the region". How can officials speak about Middle East peace while refusing to acknowledge a population deprived of basic liberties and rights under long-standing military control?

The Situation in the West Bank

Nowhere is the hypocrisy more evident than in the controlled West Bank. There, words of peace sound remote and weak, while the terrifying echoes of settler violence and terror continue strongly. More than 30 occurrences of settler aggression against Palestinian civilians have been recorded since the announcement of the Trump administration's 20-point plan in late September, including attacks, stealing of crops, and torching of cars and belongings.

Systematic Violence During Agricultural Period

The rise in settler terrorism is deliberate. This period signals the beginning of agricultural harvesting. Beyond a vital economic activity, it represents an important social and cultural occasion that shows resilience under occupation. Exactly for these reasons, annually settlers target Palestinians throughout this crucial time. During the last year's agricultural season, human rights organizations documented 113 separate cases of aggression, intimidation, harvest-thwarting, or destruction to olive groves and crops by settlers and military personnel, which occurred on lands belonging to 51 Palestinian villages, municipalities, and areas.

Israel's security forces appeared to have played a greater role in obstructing the olive harvest

Yesh Din also found that "Israel's security forces seemed to have had a larger part in hindering the harvesting season". In approximately 70% of instances where entry to lands was forcibly prevented, soldiers, border guards, and settlement security officials were physically on site. They either directly prevented Palestinian farmers from accessing and gathering their own lands, or failed to prevent settlers who threatened or assaulted them.

Political Support for Settler Activities

This comes as no surprise, as the head of the settlers' political party, Bezalel Smotrich, was named as an extra minister in the Ministry of Defence responsible for the territorial coordination unit. In Umm al-Khair, for example, a special COGAT unit uprooted personally-owned olive trees of Palestinians, citing lack of permits, but ignored infractions by an illegal adjacent colonist encampment. Last week, the local court decided to halt all construction in the encampment, which was built on lands taken by Israel and illegally given to settlers.

Takeover Goals and International Reaction

In the controlled West Bank, colonist violence is nothing but a instrument used by the administration to pursue practical annexation. Earlier this month, Smotrich headed a march of thousands of colonists in support of annexation the West Bank. He was reported as stating, "We persist to take hold with our presence of the territory with numerous pioneers, many heroes, and hundreds of thousands of settlers who live in this area of the territory ... we need to normalize it and make it eternal."

The colonists and their supporters in the Knesset are explicit about their motives and goals. Why, then, do government officials in the west hesitate from meaningful penalties and diplomatic measures? Smotrich was penalized by the UK in the summer, but the effect of the penalty 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 take territories in the West Bank. Remarkably in the announcement of penalties, the British government highlighted they take place "in his personal capacity" only.

Global Acknowledgment 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 goods from settlements to be sold in markets and outlets in Britain? If the British leader is genuine about acknowledging Palestinian statehood as a state, how come he allow the Israeli administration to violate its sovereignty with such violent means? Or was the recognition an hollow tactic to silence opposition in the United Kingdom, a meaningless gesture only to be realised in the relabeling of some cartographic representations?

Route Toward True Peace

A just resolution must respect the fundamental rights of the Palestinian population for self-determination, sovereignty, and freedom from military occupation and blockade. Only when each human being's dignity across the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea is respected can we truly say reconciliation has been achieved.

True peace requires an sovereign Palestinian nation alongside Israel: this is the only solution that has agreement among the international community, the Palestinian leadership, and the Israeli peace camp.

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 pariah regime of Netanyahu had become too great. The mass protests across the world for the liberation of Palestinian territories, and the unwavering opposition protests inside Israel, are the real forces behind this pressure.

It is thanks to this enormous public campaign that a truce has been agreed, the hostages released, and the people of the territory can enjoy safeguard from annihilation. Following the ceasefire agreement has been finalized, it is crucial to continue maintaining this influence. The international community has ignored to the violence in the strip for many years; it must not make the same error in the West Bank.