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Last Monday, during a combined address by American leader Donald Trump and Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli parliament, fellow parliamentarian Ayman Odeh and I displayed a banner urging the acknowledgment of Palestine. We were forcibly ejected from the legislative assembly, revealing the fragile state of what's often described as the "sole democratic state in the region". How can leaders speak about regional peace while refusing to recognize a people deprived of fundamental liberties and rights under decades-long occupation?

The Situation in the Occupied West Bank

In no place is the deceit more apparent than in the occupied West Bank. There, words of peace sound remote and faint, while the frightening echoes of settler violence and intimidation persist strongly. Over 30 occurrences of violence by settlers against Palestinians have been documented since the unveiling of the US peace proposal in September's end, including attacks, theft of agricultural produce, and burning of cars and belongings.

Systematic Violence During Harvest Season

The increase in settler terrorism is deliberate. This period marks the beginning of agricultural harvesting. Beyond a crucial economic activity, it represents an important communal and national moment that demonstrates resilience under military rule. Exactly for these reasons, year after year settlers target Palestinian farmers during this crucial time. During the last year's agricultural period, human rights organizations recorded 113 separate cases of violence, intimidation, preventing harvesting, or destruction to olive trees and crops by settlers and soldiers, which took place on lands belonging to 51 Palestinian communities, municipalities, and communities.

Israel's military seemed to have played a greater role in hindering the harvesting season

Yesh Din also discovered that "Israel's security forces appeared to have had a larger part in hindering the harvesting season". In about 70% of cases where access to lands was forcibly prevented, troops, border police officers, and settler civilian security coordinators were actually on site. They either personally stopped Palestinian farmers from reaching and gathering their own lands, or failed to stop settlers who threatened or assaulted them.

Political Backing for Colonization

This comes as no shock, as the head of the settlers' political party, Bezalel Smotrich, was named as an extra minister in the Defense Ministry in charge of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. In Umm al-Khair, for example, a particular military coordination team uprooted personally-owned olive plants of local residents, claiming lack of permits, but ignored infractions by an unauthorized adjacent colonist encampment. Last week, the local court ruled to stop all construction in the encampment, which was constructed on lands taken by Israeli authorities and unlawfully given to settlers.

Takeover Goals and International Reaction

In the occupied West Bank, colonist violence is nothing but a instrument used by the administration to achieve de-facto annexation. Recently, Smotrich led a march of thousands of colonists in support of taking over the West Bank. He was reported as stating, "We persist to establish presence with our presence of the Land of Israel with numerous pioneers, numerous heroes, and hundreds of thousands of settlers who reside in this part of the territory ... we must to normalise it and make it eternal."

The colonists and their backers in the parliament are explicit about their intentions and intentions. Why, then, do government officials in the Western nations refrain from meaningful penalties and political actions? Smotrich was sanctioned by the United Kingdom in the summer, but the effect of the sanction has been limited. He may not be able to go to the UK and tour the West End, but he still enjoys the ministerial power to take lands in the West Bank. Remarkably in the announcement of penalties, the UK emphasized they apply "personally" solely.

International Recognition and Reality

If the British administration acknowledges the truth of colonist aggression and its grave consequences on Palestinian existence, why does it still allow goods from settlements to be marketed in stores and outlets in the UK? If the British leader is serious about recognition of Palestine as a sovereign entity, how can he permit the Israeli government to breach its sovereignty with such violent means? Or was the acknowledgment an hollow ploy to silence opposition in the UK, a meaningless gesture only to be implemented in the rebranding of some maps?

Pathway to Genuine Peace

A fair resolution must honor the fundamental entitlements of the Palestinian population for self-recognition, sovereignty, and freedom from military occupation and siege. Only when every person's worth between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea is honored can we genuinely say reconciliation has been achieved.

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

Trump may have applied influence on Netanyahu to stop the genocide, but he probably only did so because the strain of his connection with the isolated government of Netanyahu had become excessive. The large demonstrations across the world for the freedom of Palestine, and the persistent anti-government demonstrations inside the country, are the actual factors behind this influence.

It is due to this massive civil movement that a truce has been agreed, the hostages freed, and the residents of the territory can experience protection from destruction. After the truce arrangement has been signed, it is vital to continue maintaining this pressure. The international community has ignored to the violence in the strip for too long; it must not repeat the same error in the occupied territories.