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Last week, during a combined address by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli parliament, colleague parliamentarian Ayman Odeh and I raised a sign urging the acknowledgment of Palestine. We were violently ejected from the parliamentary session, revealing the fragile state of what's often described as the "sole democratic state in the region". How can officials talk about Middle East peace while refusing to acknowledge a people denied of basic liberties and rights under long-standing occupation?

The Situation in the West Bank

In no place is the deceit more apparent than in the controlled West Bank. There, talk of peace sound distant and weak, while the terrifying echoes of colonist attacks and terror persist strongly. More than 30 incidents of violence by settlers against Palestinian civilians have been documented since the unveiling of the US 20-point plan in September's end, including physical assaults, stealing of crops, and torching of cars and property.

Targeted Aggression During Agricultural Period

The increase in settler terrorism is not coincidental. This period signals the start of harvest seasons. Beyond a crucial economic event, it constitutes an important social and cultural occasion that demonstrates endurance under military rule. Exactly for these reasons, year after year colonists target Palestinians throughout this precious period. During the 2024 harvest period, human rights organizations recorded 113 distinct incidents of aggression, intimidation, preventing harvesting, or destruction to olive trees and produce by Israeli civilians and soldiers, which occurred on territories belonging to 51 Palestinian-owned communities, municipalities, and communities.

Israeli security forces appeared to have played a greater part in hindering the harvesting season

Yesh Din also found that "Israel's security forces appeared to have had a larger role in hindering the harvesting season". In approximately 70% of cases where access to farmland was forcibly prevented, troops, border guards, and settler civilian security coordinators were physically present. They either personally stopped Palestinians from reaching and harvesting their property, or failed to stop settlers who harassed or attacked them.

Political Backing for Settler Activities

This is no surprise, as the head of the colonists' political movement, Bezalel Smotrich, was named as an additional minister in the Defense Ministry in charge of the territorial coordination unit. In Umm al-Khair, for example, a special COGAT unit uprooted private olive trees of local residents, claiming lack of permits, but overlooked infractions by an unauthorized adjacent colonist encampment. Last week, the Jerusalem district court ruled to halt all construction in the encampment, which was built on property taken by Israeli authorities and illegally transferred to colonists.

Annexation Ambitions and International Response

In the controlled West Bank, colonist violence is simply a tool used by the government to achieve de-facto annexation. Earlier this month, Smotrich led a march of thousands of colonists in favor of annexation the West Bank. He was reported as stating, "We are continuing to establish presence with our feet of the territory with numerous pioneers, numerous champions, and countless of settlers who reside in this part of the land ... we must to normalise it and establish it permanently."

The settlers and their backers in the Knesset are clear about their motives and intentions. Why, then, do political leaders in the west hesitate from meaningful sanctions and diplomatic measures? Smotrich was penalized by the United Kingdom in June, but the impact of the penalty has been minimal. He may not be permitted to travel to the United Kingdom and tour the West End, but he still enjoys the governmental authority to seize lands in the West Bank. Remarkably in the declaration of sanctions, the UK highlighted they apply "in his personal capacity" solely.

Global Acknowledgment and Actual Situation

If the British administration acknowledges the truth of settler violence and its grave implications on Palestinian life, why does it still permit settlement produce to be sold in stores and outlets in the UK? If the British leader is serious about recognition of Palestine as a sovereign entity, how come he allow the Israeli administration to breach its independence with such aggressive methods? Or was the acknowledgment an empty tactic to silence dissenting voices in the United Kingdom, a meaningless gesture only to be implemented in the rebranding of some cartographic representations?

Route Toward Genuine Resolution

A fair resolution must honor the basic entitlements of the Palestinian people for self-recognition, sovereignty, and liberty from military occupation and blockade. Only when each person's worth between the river and Mediterranean Sea is honored can we genuinely say peace has been attained.

Genuine resolution requires an sovereign Palestinian nation next to Israel: this is the sole formula that enjoises agreement among the global community, the Palestinian leadership, and the Israeli peace camp.

Trump may have applied pressure on the Israeli leader to stop the genocide, but he likely only did so because the burden of his relationship with the isolated government of Netanyahu had become too great. The mass protests throughout the world for the freedom of Palestine, and the unwavering opposition demonstrations inside Israel, are the real forces behind this influence.

It is thanks to this enormous civil movement that a truce has been agreed, the hostages freed, and the people of the territory can enjoy protection from annihilation. Following the truce arrangement has been signed, it is vital to keep maintaining this pressure. The international community has ignored to the atrocities in Gaza for many years; it must not make the same error in the West Bank.