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Last Monday, during a combined address by American leader Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Knesset, fellow lawmaker Ayman Odeh and I raised a sign calling for the acknowledgment of the Palestinian state. We were violently removed from the parliamentary assembly, exposing the fragile state of what's often described as the "only democracy in the Middle East". How can leaders speak about Middle East peace while declining to acknowledge a population denied of basic liberties and rights under long-standing occupation?

The Reality in the West Bank

Nowhere is the hypocrisy more evident than in the occupied West Bank. There, words of peace seem remote and weak, while the terrifying sounds of settler violence and terror continue strongly. More than 30 occurrences of violence by settlers against Palestinians have been recorded since the unveiling of the Trump administration's 20-point plan in late September, featuring attacks, stealing of agricultural produce, and torching of cars and belongings.

Systematic Aggression During Agricultural Period

The rise in settler terrorism is deliberate. This time signals the start of harvest seasons. Beyond a vital economic activity, it represents an significant communal and national moment that shows resilience under military rule. Precisely for these causes, annually colonists target Palestinian farmers throughout this crucial time. During the last year's agricultural period, human rights organizations recorded 113 distinct incidents of violence, intimidation, preventing harvesting, or damage to olive groves and crops by settlers and soldiers, which took place on lands owned by 51 Palestinian-owned communities, municipalities, and areas.

Israeli security forces appeared to have played a larger role in obstructing the olive harvest

Yesh Din also discovered that "Israeli security forces seemed to have played a larger role in hindering the olive harvest". In approximately 70% of cases where access to lands was violently blocked, soldiers, border police officers, and settlement civilian security coordinators were actually on site. They either personally stopped Palestinian farmers from accessing and harvesting their own lands, or failed to stop colonists who harassed or assaulted them.

Government Backing for Colonization

This is no shock, as the head of the settlers' political party, Bezalel Smotrich, was appointed as an additional official in the Defense Ministry responsible for the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. In one village, for example, a particular military coordination team removed personally-owned olive plants of Palestinians, claiming missing documentation, but ignored violations by an unauthorized nearby colonist encampment. Last week, the Jerusalem district court decided to halt all building work in the encampment, which was built on lands seized by Israel and unlawfully transferred to colonists.

Takeover Ambitions and Global Response

In the occupied West Bank, colonist violence is nothing but a instrument used by the administration to achieve de-facto incorporation. Earlier this month, Smotrich headed a procession of many of colonists in support of taking over the West Bank. He was quoted as saying, "We persist to establish presence with our presence of the territory with numerous pioneers, many heroes, and hundreds of thousands of settlers who reside in this part of the territory ... we need to normalize it and make it eternal."

The settlers and their supporters in the Knesset are explicit about their motives and goals. Why, then, do political leaders in the west refrain from meaningful penalties and diplomatic measures? Smotrich was penalized by the United Kingdom in the summer, but the effect of the sanction has been minimal. He may not be permitted to travel to the UK and visit the West End, but he still enjoys the ministerial power to take territories in the West Bank. Remarkably in the declaration of penalties, the UK emphasized they apply "in his personal capacity" only.

International Recognition and Reality

If the British administration recognizes the reality of colonist aggression and its serious implications on Palestinian existence, why does it still allow settlement produce to be sold in markets and outlets in the UK? If Starmer is genuine about recognition of Palestine as a state, how can he permit the Israeli government to violate its sovereignty with such aggressive methods? Or was the acknowledgment an hollow ploy to shut down dissenting voices in the United Kingdom, a hollow gesture only to be realised in the rebranding of some cartographic representations?

Route Toward Genuine Resolution

A fair resolution must honor the fundamental rights of the Palestinian population for self-determination, sovereignty, and freedom from occupation and blockade. Only when each person's worth across the river and Mediterranean Sea is respected can we genuinely say reconciliation has been attained.

True resolution requires an independent Palestinian nation alongside Israel: this is the only formula that has consensus among the global community, the Palestinian national movement, and the Israeli peace advocates.

Trump may have applied influence on Netanyahu to halt the genocide, but he likely only did so because the strain of his relationship with the isolated government of the Israeli PM had become excessive. The large demonstrations throughout the globe for the freedom of Palestine, and the unwavering opposition demonstrations inside the country, are the actual forces behind this pressure.

It is due to this enormous public campaign that a ceasefire has been agreed, the hostages freed, and the residents of Gaza can enjoy safeguard from annihilation. After the truce arrangement has been signed, it is crucial to continue applying this pressure. The world has turned a blind eye to the atrocities in the strip for too long; it must not make the same mistake in the occupied territories.