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Last Monday, during a combined speech by American leader Donald Trump and Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu at the Knesset, fellow lawmaker Ayman Odeh and I displayed a banner urging the acknowledgment of the Palestinian state. We were forcibly ejected from the parliamentary session, revealing the weak condition of what's frequently described as the "only democratic state in the region". How can officials speak about regional peace while refusing to acknowledge a population denied of fundamental freedoms and entitlements under long-standing occupation?

The Reality in the West Bank

In no place is the hypocrisy more apparent than in the occupied West Bank. There, talk of reconciliation sound distant and weak, while the frightening sounds of settler violence and intimidation continue strongly. More than 30 incidents of settler aggression against Palestinian civilians have been recorded since the announcement of the Trump administration's 20-point plan in September's end, including physical assaults, theft of crops, and burning of cars and belongings.

Systematic Aggression During Harvest Season

The increase in settler terrorism is not coincidental. This period signals the beginning of harvest seasons. Beyond a vital economic event, it constitutes an important communal and national moment that demonstrates resilience under occupation. Exactly for these causes, year after year settlers attack Palestinian farmers during this crucial time. During the 2024 harvest period, human rights organizations recorded 113 separate incidents of violence, harassment, harvest-thwarting, or destruction to olive groves and crops by Israeli civilians and military personnel, which occurred on lands owned by 51 Palestinian-owned communities, municipalities, and areas.

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

Yesh Din also discovered that "Israel's security forces seemed to have had a larger role in obstructing the olive harvest". In approximately 70% of instances where entry to farmland was violently prevented, soldiers, border police officers, and settlement security officials were physically on site. They either personally stopped Palestinians from reaching and harvesting their own lands, or neglected to stop settlers who harassed or attacked them.

Political Backing for Settler Activities

This comes as no shock, as the leader of the settlers' political party, Bezalel Smotrich, was appointed as an extra official in the Defense Ministry in charge of the territorial coordination unit. In one village, for instance, a particular COGAT unit removed personally-owned olive trees of Palestinians, claiming missing documentation, but ignored violations by an illegal adjacent colonist encampment. Last week, the local court decided to stop all building work in the outpost, which was built on lands taken by Israeli authorities and unlawfully given to colonists.

Annexation Ambitions and International Reaction

In the controlled West Bank, colonist violence is nothing but a instrument used by the administration to achieve practical incorporation. Recently, Smotrich led a march of many of settlers in support of taking over the West Bank. He was reported as saying, "We persist to establish presence with our feet of the Land of Israel with numerous pioneers, many champions, and hundreds of thousands of settlers who live in this part of the land ... we must to normalise it and establish it permanently."

The settlers and their backers in the parliament are explicit about their motives and intentions. 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 impact of the penalty has been minimal. He may not be able to travel to the United Kingdom and visit the London's entertainment district, but he still maintains the governmental authority to seize lands in the West Bank. Remarkably in the declaration of sanctions, the UK highlighted they apply "personally" solely.

Global Acknowledgment and Actual Situation

If the British administration acknowledges the reality of settler violence and its grave consequences on Palestinian life, why does it still allow goods from settlements to be sold in markets and outlets in the UK? If the British leader is serious about acknowledging Palestinian statehood as a sovereign entity, how come he permit the Israeli administration to breach its sovereignty with such violent means? Or was the recognition an empty ploy to silence opposition in the United Kingdom, a meaningless gesture only to be realised in the rebranding of some maps?

Pathway to True Peace

A just resolution must honor the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people for self-determination, independence, and liberty from occupation and blockade. Only when each human being's worth across the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea is respected can we truly say peace has been achieved.

True resolution requires an independent Palestinian nation next to Israel: this is the sole formula that has agreement among the international community, the Palestinian national movement, and the Israeli peace camp.

Trump may have applied pressure on Netanyahu to stop the genocide, but he likely only did so because the burden of his relationship with the pariah regime of Netanyahu had become too great. The mass protests throughout the globe for the freedom of Palestinian territories, and the persistent anti-government demonstrations inside Israel, are the real factors behind this influence.

It is thanks to this massive civil movement that a ceasefire has been agreed, the hostages released, and the people of the territory can experience protection from annihilation. After the truce arrangement has been signed, it is crucial to keep applying this influence. The world has ignored to the violence in the strip for many years; it must not repeat the same error in the West Bank.