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Last week, amid a joint address by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Knesset, fellow parliamentarian Ayman Odeh and I displayed a banner calling for the recognition of Palestine. We were violently removed from the parliamentary session, exposing the weak condition of what's frequently described as the "sole democracy in the Middle East". How can officials talk about regional peace while declining to acknowledge a population deprived of basic freedoms and entitlements under decades-long military control?

The Situation in the West Bank

In no place is the hypocrisy more apparent than in the occupied West Bank. There, words of reconciliation seem remote and weak, while the frightening echoes of settler violence and intimidation continue strongly. Over 30 incidents of violence by settlers against Palestinian civilians have been documented since the announcement of the US peace proposal in late September, featuring physical assaults, theft of crops, and torching of cars and belongings.

Systematic Violence During Agricultural Period

The increase in violence by colonists is deliberate. This time marks the beginning of agricultural harvesting. More than a crucial economic event, it represents an significant social and cultural occasion that demonstrates resilience under military rule. Exactly for these causes, year after year settlers attack Palestinians throughout this precious time. During the last year's agricultural period, rights groups recorded 113 separate cases of violence, harassment, harvest-thwarting, or destruction to olive trees and crops by Israeli civilians and soldiers, which took place on territories belonging to 51 Palestinian villages, municipalities, and areas.

Israeli security forces appeared to have had a larger part in obstructing the olive harvest

Yesh Din also discovered that "Israeli security forces seemed to have played a larger role in hindering the harvesting season". In approximately 70% of cases where entry to farmland was violently prevented, troops, border guards, and settler civilian security coordinators were actually present. They either personally prevented Palestinians from accessing and harvesting their property, or failed to stop colonists who harassed or attacked them.

Political Support for Settler Activities

This is no shock, as the head of the settlers' political party, Bezalel Smotrich, was named as an extra official in the Defense Ministry responsible for the territorial coordination unit. In one village, for example, a special COGAT unit removed private olive plants of Palestinians, claiming lack of permits, but overlooked violations by an illegal adjacent settler outpost. Last week, the local court ruled to stop all construction in the encampment, which was constructed on lands seized by Israeli authorities and illegally given to colonists.

Annexation Ambitions and International Response

In the controlled West Bank, settler terrorism is nothing but a tool used by the administration to achieve practical incorporation. Recently, Smotrich led a march of thousands of colonists in favor of taking over the West Bank. He was reported as saying, "We are continuing to take hold with our presence of the Land of Israel with numerous settlers, numerous heroes, and hundreds of thousands of settlers who reside in this area of the territory ... we must to normalize it and make it eternal."

The colonists and their supporters in the parliament are explicit about their motives and intentions. Why, then, do government officials in the west refrain from meaningful sanctions and political actions? Smotrich was sanctioned by the UK in June, but the effect of the sanction has been limited. He may not be able to travel to the UK and visit the West End, but he still enjoys the governmental authority to take territories in the West Bank. Even in the announcement of sanctions, the UK highlighted they take place "in his personal capacity" only.

Global Recognition and Actual Situation

If the UK government acknowledges the reality of colonist aggression and its grave implications on Palestinian life, why does it still permit settlement produce to be sold in stores and shops in Britain? If Starmer is genuine about recognition of Palestine as a sovereign entity, how come he allow the Israeli government to violate its independence with such violent means? Or was the acknowledgment an hollow ploy to shut down dissenting voices in the United Kingdom, a meaningless act only to be realised in the rebranding of some cartographic representations?

Pathway to Genuine Resolution

A just peace must respect the fundamental rights of the Palestinian population for self-recognition, sovereignty, and freedom from military occupation and siege. Only when every human being's dignity between the river and sea is honored can we truly say peace has been achieved.

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

The former US president may have applied influence on the Israeli leader to halt the genocide, but he probably only did so because the strain of his relationship with the isolated government of Netanyahu had become too great. The large demonstrations throughout the globe for the liberation of Palestine, and the unwavering anti-government demonstrations within Israel, are the actual factors behind this pressure.

It is due to this enormous civil movement that a ceasefire has been agreed, the hostages released, and the residents of Gaza can enjoy safeguard from destruction. Following the truce arrangement has been signed, it is vital to keep applying this pressure. The world has turned a blind eye to the atrocities in Gaza for too long; it must not repeat the same error in the West Bank.