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Last week, amid a joint address by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Knesset, colleague parliamentarian Ayman Odeh and I displayed a banner urging the recognition of Palestine. We were forcibly ejected from the parliamentary session, revealing the fragile condition of what's frequently described as the "sole democracy in the Middle East". How can leaders talk about regional peace while declining to acknowledge a people denied of basic freedoms and rights under decades-long occupation?

The Reality in the West Bank

Nowhere is the deceit more evident than in the controlled West Bank. There, words of reconciliation seem distant and weak, while the terrifying sounds of settler violence and terror persist loudly. Over 30 incidents of violence by settlers against Palestinians have been documented since the announcement of the Trump administration's peace proposal in late September, featuring physical assaults, stealing of crops, and torching of vehicles and property.

Systematic Aggression During Harvest Season

The rise in settler terrorism is not coincidental. This time signals the beginning of harvest seasons. More than a vital economic event, it constitutes an important communal and national occasion that shows endurance under military rule. Exactly for these reasons, annually colonists attack Palestinian farmers during this crucial period. During the 2024 harvest period, rights groups documented 113 distinct incidents of aggression, intimidation, harvest-thwarting, or damage to olive trees and produce by Israeli civilians and military personnel, which occurred on lands belonging to 51 Palestinian communities, towns, and areas.

Israel's military appeared to have had a greater part in hindering the olive harvest

The human rights group also found that "Israel's military appeared to have played a larger part in obstructing the olive harvest". In approximately 70% of instances where entry to farmland was forcibly blocked, soldiers, border police officers, and settler civilian security coordinators were physically on site. They either directly prevented Palestinians from accessing and harvesting their own lands, or neglected to prevent colonists who harassed or assaulted them.

Government Support for Colonization

This is no shock, as the head of the colonists' political movement, Bezalel Smotrich, was named as an extra minister in the Defense Ministry responsible for the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. In one village, for instance, a special COGAT unit removed personally-owned olive trees of local residents, claiming missing documentation, but ignored violations by an illegal adjacent colonist encampment. Last week, the Jerusalem district court decided to halt all building work in the encampment, which was constructed on property taken by Israeli authorities and unlawfully transferred to settlers.

Takeover Ambitions and Global Response

In the occupied West Bank, settler terrorism is nothing but a instrument used by the administration to pursue practical incorporation. Earlier this month, Smotrich headed a procession of many of colonists in support of annexation the West Bank. He was reported as saying, "We persist to take hold with our feet of the territory with many settlers, numerous champions, and hundreds of thousands of colonists who reside in this area of the territory ... we must to normalize it and make it eternal."

The settlers and their backers in the parliament are explicit about their motives and intentions. Why, then, do political leaders in the Western nations hesitate from substantial sanctions and political actions? Smotrich was penalized by the UK in the summer, but the impact of the penalty has been limited. He may not be able to travel to the United Kingdom and tour the London's entertainment district, but he still maintains the ministerial power to seize territories in the West Bank. Remarkably in the declaration of penalties, the UK emphasized they apply "in his personal capacity" only.

Global Recognition and Reality

If the British administration recognizes the reality of colonist aggression and its grave consequences on Palestinian existence, why does it still permit goods from settlements to be sold in markets and shops in the UK? If Starmer is serious about acknowledging Palestinian statehood as a sovereign entity, how come he permit the Israeli government to violate its independence with such violent means? Or was the recognition an empty tactic to shut down opposition in the United Kingdom, a meaningless act only to be realised in the relabeling of some cartographic representations?

Route Toward Genuine Peace

A just resolution must honor the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people for self-determination, sovereignty, and freedom from occupation and blockade. Only when every person's worth across the river and Mediterranean Sea is respected can we genuinely declare reconciliation has been achieved.

True resolution requires an independent Palestinian state next to Israel: this is the only formula that has agreement among the international community, the Palestinian national movement, and the Israeli peace advocates.

Trump may have applied pressure on the Israeli leader to stop the genocide, but he probably only did so because the burden of his connection with the isolated government of the Israeli PM had become excessive. The large demonstrations across the globe for the liberation of Palestinian territories, and the unwavering anti-government protests inside the country, are the actual forces behind this pressure.

It is due to this massive public campaign that a truce has been signed, the captives freed, and the residents of the territory can experience protection from annihilation. Following the truce arrangement has been signed, it is vital to keep maintaining this pressure. The international community has ignored to the atrocities in Gaza for too long; it must not make the same mistake in the occupied territories.