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Last week, amid a joint 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 urging the acknowledgment of Palestine. We were forcibly removed from the parliamentary assembly, exposing the fragile state of what's often portrayed as the "sole democratic state in the region". How can leaders speak about Middle East peace while declining to acknowledge a people deprived of basic freedoms and rights under decades-long military control?

The Reality in the Occupied West Bank

Nowhere is the hypocrisy more apparent than in the controlled West Bank. There, talk of reconciliation seem remote and weak, while the terrifying sounds of settler violence and intimidation continue loudly. Over 30 occurrences of settler aggression against Palestinian civilians have been documented since the unveiling of the Trump administration's peace proposal in September's end, featuring physical assaults, theft of agricultural produce, and torching of cars and property.

Targeted Aggression During Harvest Season

The rise in violence by colonists is deliberate. This time marks the start of agricultural harvesting. More than a crucial economic activity, it constitutes an significant communal and cultural occasion that shows endurance under occupation. Precisely for these causes, year after year colonists target Palestinians throughout this precious period. During the 2024 harvest season, human rights organizations recorded 113 distinct cases of violence, harassment, harvest-thwarting, or damage to olive groves and crops by settlers and soldiers, which took place on lands belonging to 51 Palestinian communities, towns, and areas.

Israel's security forces appeared to have played a larger part in hindering the olive harvest

The human rights group also found that "Israel's security forces appeared to have had a greater role in hindering the harvesting season". In about 70% of cases where access to lands was violently blocked, soldiers, border guards, and settler civilian security coordinators were physically on site. They either personally stopped Palestinians from accessing and harvesting their property, or neglected to prevent colonists who harassed or assaulted them.

Government Backing for Colonization

This is no surprise, as the leader of the colonists' political movement, Bezalel Smotrich, was named as an additional minister in the Ministry of Defence responsible for the territorial coordination unit. In one village, for example, a particular military coordination team uprooted personally-owned olive plants of Palestinians, citing missing documentation, but ignored infractions by an unauthorized nearby settler outpost. Last week, the Jerusalem district court decided to stop all building work in the outpost, which was constructed on lands seized by Israel and unlawfully transferred to settlers.

Annexation Ambitions and Global Response

In the controlled West Bank, colonist violence is simply a instrument used by the government to achieve practical annexation. Earlier this month, Smotrich led a procession of thousands of colonists in support of taking over the West Bank. He was reported as stating, "We are continuing to establish presence with our presence of the Land of Israel with numerous pioneers, many champions, and hundreds of thousands of settlers who live in this area of the territory ... we must to normalise it and establish it permanently."

The colonists and their backers in the parliament are explicit about their intentions and intentions. Why, then, do government officials in the west refrain from meaningful penalties and diplomatic measures? Smotrich was sanctioned by the United Kingdom in June, but the effect of the sanction has been limited. He may not be permitted to travel to the United Kingdom and visit the West End, but he still enjoys the governmental authority to take lands in the West Bank. Remarkably in the announcement of penalties, the British government highlighted they apply "in his personal capacity" solely.

Global Acknowledgment and Reality

If the UK government acknowledges the truth of settler violence and its grave implications on Palestinian life, why does it still permit settlement produce to be sold in markets and outlets in the UK? If Starmer is genuine about acknowledging Palestinian statehood as a state, how come he allow the Israeli administration to violate its sovereignty with such violent means? Or was the acknowledgment an empty ploy to shut down opposition in the UK, a meaningless act only to be realised in the relabeling of some cartographic representations?

Route Toward Genuine Resolution

A just resolution must honor the fundamental entitlements of the Palestinian population for self-recognition, independence, and liberty from military occupation and blockade. Only when every human being's dignity across the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea is respected can we genuinely declare peace has been achieved.

Genuine resolution requires an sovereign Palestinian state next to the Israeli state: this is the only solution that enjoises consensus among the international community, the Palestinian leadership, and the Israeli peace advocates.

The former US president may have inflicted pressure on Netanyahu to halt the genocide, but he likely only did so because the burden of his connection with the pariah regime of Netanyahu had become too great. The mass protests throughout the world for the liberation of Palestinian territories, and the unwavering opposition demonstrations within the country, are the real forces behind this influence.

It is thanks to this enormous civil movement that a truce has been agreed, the captives released, and the people of Gaza can enjoy safeguard from destruction. Following the ceasefire agreement has been signed, it is crucial to keep applying this pressure. The international community has turned a blind eye to the atrocities in the strip for too long; it must not make the same mistake in the West Bank.