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Last Monday, during a joint speech by American leader Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli parliament, fellow parliamentarian Ayman Odeh and I displayed a banner calling for the recognition of the Palestinian state. We were violently removed from the parliamentary session, exposing the fragile state of what's often portrayed as the "sole democracy in the region". How can leaders talk about regional peace while refusing to recognize a people deprived of fundamental liberties and rights under decades-long occupation?

The Reality in the Occupied West Bank

In no place is the hypocrisy more evident than in the occupied West Bank. There, words of reconciliation seem distant and faint, while the terrifying echoes of settler violence and terror continue loudly. Over 30 incidents of violence by settlers against Palestinians have been documented since the announcement of the Trump administration's 20-point plan in late September, including physical assaults, theft of crops, and burning of cars and belongings.

Targeted Violence During Harvest Season

The increase in violence by colonists is not coincidental. This time signals the start of agricultural harvesting. Beyond a crucial economic activity, it constitutes an significant social and national occasion that shows endurance under military rule. Exactly for these causes, year after year settlers attack Palestinian farmers throughout this crucial time. During the last year's agricultural period, human rights organizations recorded 113 distinct cases of aggression, intimidation, harvest-thwarting, or destruction to olive groves and crops by settlers and soldiers, which took place on lands belonging to 51 Palestinian villages, towns, and communities.

Israel's military seemed to have played a greater role in obstructing the olive harvest

The human rights group also found that "Israeli military seemed to have had a greater part in obstructing the olive harvest". In approximately 70% of instances where access to farmland was forcibly blocked, soldiers, border guards, and settlement civilian security coordinators were actually on site. They either directly stopped Palestinian farmers from accessing and gathering their own lands, or neglected to prevent colonists who threatened or attacked them.

Government Support for Colonization

This comes as no shock, as the head of the colonists' political movement, Bezalel Smotrich, was named as an extra minister in the Defense Ministry in charge of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. In one village, for example, a special COGAT unit removed private olive plants of local residents, citing lack of permits, but overlooked infractions by an unauthorized nearby settler outpost. Last week, the Jerusalem district court decided to halt all construction in the outpost, which was constructed on property seized by Israeli authorities and unlawfully transferred to settlers.

Takeover Goals and International Response

In the controlled 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 persist to establish presence with our feet of the Land of Israel with many settlers, numerous heroes, and hundreds of thousands of settlers who live in this area of the territory ... we must to normalize it and establish it permanently."

The settlers and their supporters in the parliament are explicit about their intentions and goals. Why, then, do government officials in the west hesitate from meaningful penalties and diplomatic measures? Smotrich was sanctioned by the UK in June, but the impact of the penalty has been limited. He may not be permitted to travel to the UK and tour the London's entertainment district, but he still maintains the ministerial power to seize territories in the West Bank. Remarkably in the announcement of sanctions, the UK emphasized they apply "personally" only.

International Recognition and Actual Situation

If the UK government recognizes the reality of colonist aggression and its grave consequences on Palestinian existence, why does it still allow goods from settlements to be sold in stores and outlets in the UK? If Starmer is genuine about acknowledging Palestinian statehood as a sovereign entity, how can he allow the Israeli government to breach its sovereignty with such aggressive methods? Or was the acknowledgment an empty tactic to shut down dissenting voices in the UK, a hollow gesture only to be implemented in the relabeling of some maps?

Route Toward Genuine Resolution

A fair resolution must respect the basic entitlements of the Palestinian people for self-recognition, independence, and liberty from occupation and blockade. Only when each person's dignity between the Jordan River and sea is respected can we truly declare peace has been attained.

True resolution requires an sovereign Palestinian nation next to the Israeli state: this is the sole solution that enjoises consensus among the global community, the Palestinian leadership, and the Israeli peace camp.

The former US president may have applied influence on Netanyahu to stop the genocide, but he likely only did so because the strain of his connection with the pariah regime of Netanyahu had become too great. The large demonstrations across the world for the freedom of Palestinian territories, and the persistent opposition protests inside Israel, are the actual forces behind this pressure.

It is thanks to this enormous public campaign that a truce has been signed, the captives released, and the people of Gaza can experience safeguard from destruction. After the truce arrangement has been finalized, it is vital to continue applying this pressure. The international community has ignored to the violence in the strip for many years; it must not make the same mistake in the West Bank.