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Last week, amid a combined address by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli parliament, fellow parliamentarian Ayman Odeh and I raised a sign calling for the recognition of Palestine. We were violently ejected from the parliamentary assembly, revealing the weak state of what's often portrayed as the "sole democratic state in the region". How can leaders speak about regional peace while refusing to recognize a people denied of fundamental liberties and rights under decades-long occupation?

The Situation in the West Bank

In no place is the deceit more evident than in the controlled West Bank. There, words of peace seem distant and faint, while the frightening sounds of colonist attacks and terror persist strongly. Over 30 incidents of settler aggression against Palestinian civilians have been documented since the announcement of the Trump administration's peace proposal in late September, featuring physical assaults, stealing of agricultural produce, and torching of cars and property.

Systematic Violence During Harvest Season

The increase in violence by colonists is deliberate. This period signals the beginning of agricultural harvesting. More than a crucial economic activity, it represents an significant communal and national moment that demonstrates resilience under military rule. Exactly for these reasons, year after year colonists attack Palestinian farmers throughout this precious time. During the last year's agricultural period, rights groups documented 113 separate cases of violence, harassment, preventing harvesting, or destruction to olive trees and produce by Israeli civilians and soldiers, which took place on lands belonging to 51 Palestinian communities, municipalities, and areas.

Israel's military appeared to have had a larger part in hindering the harvesting season

The human rights group also discovered that "Israeli military seemed to have played a larger part in hindering the olive harvest". In approximately 70% of cases where access to lands was violently blocked, soldiers, border police officers, and settler security officials were actually on site. They either personally prevented Palestinian farmers from accessing and harvesting their property, or failed to prevent colonists who threatened or attacked them.

Political Support for Settler Activities

This is no shock, as the head of the colonists' political movement, Bezalel Smotrich, was appointed as an extra official in the Defense Ministry responsible for the territorial coordination unit. In one village, for example, a special military coordination team removed personally-owned olive trees of Palestinians, claiming missing documentation, but overlooked violations by an unauthorized adjacent settler outpost. Last week, the Jerusalem district court ruled to halt all construction in the encampment, which was constructed on property taken by Israeli authorities and unlawfully given to settlers.

Takeover Ambitions and Global Response

In the occupied West Bank, colonist violence is nothing but a instrument used by the government to achieve de-facto annexation. Earlier this month, Smotrich led a procession of thousands of settlers in favor of annexation the West Bank. He was quoted as stating, "We are continuing to establish presence with our feet of the Land of Israel with numerous pioneers, many heroes, and hundreds of thousands of settlers who reside in this part of the territory ... we need to normalise it and establish it permanently."

The colonists and their supporters in the Knesset are explicit about their intentions and goals. Why, then, do government officials in the west refrain from substantial sanctions and diplomatic measures? Smotrich was sanctioned by the United Kingdom in June, but the effect of the penalty has been limited. He may not be permitted to travel to the UK and visit the London's entertainment district, but he still maintains the governmental authority to seize territories in the West Bank. Even in the announcement of penalties, the British government emphasized they take place "in his personal capacity" only.

Global Recognition and Reality

If the British administration acknowledges the truth of settler violence and its serious implications on Palestinian life, why does it still allow settlement produce to be sold in markets and shops in the UK? If the British leader is serious about acknowledging Palestinian statehood as a sovereign entity, how come he allow the Israeli administration to breach its sovereignty with such violent means? Or was the acknowledgment an empty ploy to shut down opposition in the UK, a hollow gesture only to be realised in the rebranding of some cartographic representations?

Route Toward Genuine Peace

A fair resolution must respect the basic rights of the Palestinian population for self-recognition, sovereignty, and freedom from occupation and siege. Only when each human being's worth across the river and sea is honored can we truly declare reconciliation has been attained.

True peace requires an independent Palestinian nation alongside the Israeli state: this is the only solution that has agreement among the international community, the Palestinian national movement, and the Israeli peace advocates.

The former US president may have inflicted pressure on the Israeli leader to halt the violence, but he probably only did so because the burden of his relationship with the isolated government of the Israeli PM had become too great. The large demonstrations throughout the globe for the freedom of Palestinian territories, and the persistent opposition protests inside 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 experience safeguard from annihilation. Following the truce arrangement has been finalized, it is crucial to keep maintaining this pressure. The international community has ignored to the atrocities in Gaza for too long; it must not repeat the same error in the occupied territories.