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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 displayed a sign urging the acknowledgment of the Palestinian state. We were forcibly ejected from the legislative assembly, revealing the weak state of what's frequently described as the "sole democracy in the region". How can leaders talk about regional peace while declining to recognize a population deprived of fundamental freedoms and rights under long-standing occupation?

The Reality in the West Bank

Nowhere is the hypocrisy more evident than in the controlled West Bank. There, talk of peace seem remote and faint, while the frightening echoes of settler violence and terror continue loudly. More than 30 incidents of settler aggression against Palestinians have been recorded since the unveiling of the US 20-point plan in September's end, featuring attacks, theft of crops, and burning of vehicles and belongings.

Systematic Aggression During Harvest Season

The increase in violence by colonists is not coincidental. This period marks the start of agricultural harvesting. More than a crucial economic activity, it represents an significant communal and cultural moment that demonstrates resilience under occupation. Exactly for these causes, annually colonists target Palestinians throughout this precious period. During the 2024 harvest period, rights groups recorded 113 distinct incidents of violence, intimidation, harvest-thwarting, or destruction to olive groves and produce by settlers and military personnel, which took place on lands belonging to 51 Palestinian-owned villages, municipalities, and communities.

Israel's military appeared to have had a larger part in hindering the harvesting season

The human rights group also discovered that "Israel's military appeared to have had a greater role in hindering the olive harvest". In about 70% of instances where access to farmland was forcibly prevented, troops, border guards, and settler security officials were actually on site. They either personally stopped Palestinians from reaching and harvesting their property, or failed to stop colonists who threatened or assaulted them.

Political Backing for Settler Activities

This comes as no surprise, as the head of the colonists' political movement, Bezalel Smotrich, was named as an additional minister in the Defense Ministry responsible for the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. In Umm al-Khair, for instance, a special COGAT unit removed personally-owned olive trees of Palestinians, citing missing documentation, but ignored violations by an illegal nearby colonist encampment. Last week, the Jerusalem district court decided to stop all construction in the encampment, which was constructed on lands seized by Israeli authorities and illegally transferred to settlers.

Annexation Ambitions and International Reaction

In the occupied West Bank, settler terrorism is nothing but a tool used by the government to achieve practical incorporation. Earlier this month, Smotrich led a march of many of settlers in favor of annexation the West Bank. He was reported as saying, "We persist to establish presence with our presence of the territory with numerous pioneers, many champions, and hundreds of thousands of settlers who live in this area of the land ... we must to normalise it and make it eternal."

The settlers and their supporters in the Knesset are explicit about their motives and intentions. Why, then, do government officials in the Western nations refrain from meaningful sanctions and political actions? Smotrich was sanctioned by the UK in June, but the effect of the penalty has been minimal. He may not be permitted to go to the UK and tour the West End, but he still maintains the governmental authority to take lands in the West Bank. Even in the announcement of penalties, the UK highlighted they apply "personally" solely.

Global Acknowledgment and Reality

If the British administration acknowledges the truth of colonist aggression and its serious implications on Palestinian life, why does it still allow goods from settlements to be sold in markets and shops in the UK? If the British leader is genuine about acknowledging Palestinian statehood as a state, how can he allow the Israeli administration to violate its sovereignty with such aggressive methods? Or was the recognition an empty tactic to shut down opposition in the United Kingdom, a hollow act only to be implemented in the relabeling of some cartographic representations?

Pathway to True Resolution

A fair peace must honor the basic rights of the Palestinian population for self-determination, independence, and liberty from occupation and siege. Only when every human being's worth between the river and sea is respected can we genuinely say reconciliation has been attained.

Genuine peace demands an independent Palestinian state alongside the Israeli state: this is the only solution that has agreement among the international community, the Palestinian leadership, and the Israeli peace camp.

The former US president may have applied pressure on the Israeli leader to halt the violence, but he probably only did so because the burden of his relationship with the isolated government of the Israeli PM had become too great. The mass protests across the world for the liberation of Palestine, and the persistent anti-government demonstrations within Israel, are the real forces behind this influence.

It is thanks to this massive civil movement that a ceasefire has been agreed, the captives released, and the people of the territory can experience safeguard from annihilation. After the ceasefire agreement has been finalized, it is vital to keep applying this pressure. The international community has turned a blind eye to the violence in Gaza for many years; it must not repeat the same mistake in the occupied territories.