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Last week, during a joint address by US President Donald Trump and Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu at the Knesset, fellow lawmaker Ayman Odeh and I displayed a banner urging the acknowledgment of Palestine. We were forcibly removed from the legislative assembly, revealing the weak state of what's frequently described as the "only democratic state in the Middle East". How can leaders speak about regional peace while refusing to acknowledge a people denied of basic liberties and entitlements under long-standing occupation?

The Reality in the West Bank

Nowhere is the hypocrisy more evident than in the occupied West Bank. There, talk of peace sound distant and weak, while the frightening sounds of settler violence and intimidation persist loudly. Over 30 incidents of violence by settlers against Palestinians have been documented since the unveiling of the US 20-point plan in September's end, featuring physical assaults, theft of agricultural produce, and torching of cars and property.

Systematic Aggression During Agricultural Period

The rise in settler terrorism is deliberate. This time signals the start of agricultural harvesting. Beyond a crucial economic activity, it constitutes an important communal and national occasion that demonstrates endurance under occupation. Precisely for these causes, annually settlers target Palestinians throughout this precious time. During the 2024 harvest period, human rights organizations recorded 113 separate cases of aggression, harassment, harvest-thwarting, or destruction to olive groves and produce involving Israeli civilians and soldiers, which took place on territories belonging to 51 Palestinian villages, towns, and areas.

Israeli military seemed to have had a larger role in obstructing the harvesting season

Yesh Din also found that "Israel's security forces appeared to have played a larger part in hindering the olive harvest". In approximately 70% of cases where entry to lands was violently blocked, soldiers, border police officers, and settlement civilian security coordinators were actually present. They either personally stopped Palestinian farmers from accessing and harvesting their own lands, or failed to stop settlers who threatened or assaulted them.

Government Support for Colonization

This comes as no surprise, as the leader of the colonists' political movement, Bezalel Smotrich, was named as an extra official in the Ministry of Defence responsible for the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. In one village, for instance, a special military coordination team removed personally-owned olive trees of Palestinians, claiming missing documentation, but ignored infractions by an unauthorized adjacent colonist encampment. Last week, the local court decided to halt all building work in the outpost, which was built on property seized by Israeli authorities and unlawfully transferred to settlers.

Annexation Ambitions and International Response

In the occupied West Bank, colonist violence is nothing but a instrument used by the administration to achieve practical incorporation. Recently, Smotrich led a procession of thousands of settlers in favor of annexation the West Bank. He was reported as stating, "We are continuing to take hold with our feet of the Land of Israel with many settlers, many heroes, and countless of settlers who reside in this part of the land ... we must to normalize it and make it eternal."

The colonists and their backers in the Knesset are explicit about their intentions and goals. Why, then, do political leaders in the west hesitate from meaningful penalties and political actions? Smotrich was sanctioned by the UK in the summer, but the effect of the sanction has been minimal. He may not be permitted to travel to the UK and tour the London's entertainment district, but he still enjoys the governmental authority to take territories in the West Bank. Even in the declaration of penalties, the UK emphasized they apply "in his personal capacity" only.

Global Recognition and Actual Situation

If the UK government acknowledges the truth of settler violence and its serious implications on Palestinian existence, why does it still allow settlement produce to be marketed in stores and outlets in Britain? If the British leader is genuine about acknowledging Palestinian statehood as a sovereign entity, how come he allow the Israeli administration to breach its independence with such aggressive methods? Or was the recognition an empty tactic to shut down dissenting voices in the United Kingdom, a hollow act only to be realised in the relabeling of some cartographic representations?

Route Toward True Peace

A just peace must honor the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people for self-determination, independence, and freedom from occupation and siege. Only when every human being's dignity between the Jordan River and sea is respected can we genuinely declare reconciliation has been attained.

Genuine peace demands an sovereign Palestinian nation next to the Israeli state: this is the sole solution that enjoises agreement among the international community, the Palestinian national movement, and the Israeli peace camp.

Trump may have applied influence on the Israeli leader to stop the genocide, but he likely only did so because the burden of his connection 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 protests within the country, are the real forces behind this pressure.

It is thanks to this enormous civil movement that a truce has been agreed, the hostages freed, and the residents of Gaza can enjoy protection from destruction. After the truce arrangement has been finalized, it is vital to keep applying this influence. The international community has ignored to the atrocities in Gaza for too long; it must not make the same mistake in the West Bank.