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Last week, amid a joint speech by US President Donald Trump and Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu at the Knesset, fellow lawmaker Ayman Odeh and I displayed a sign urging the recognition of the Palestinian state. We were violently ejected from the legislative session, revealing the weak condition of what's frequently described as the "sole democracy in the region". How can leaders speak about Middle East peace while refusing to recognize a people denied of basic liberties and entitlements under decades-long military control?

The Situation in the Occupied West Bank

In no place is the hypocrisy more apparent than in the controlled West Bank. There, words of peace sound remote and faint, while the frightening sounds of settler violence and terror persist loudly. Over 30 occurrences of violence by settlers against Palestinian civilians have been documented since the unveiling of the US peace proposal in late September, including physical assaults, theft of crops, and burning of cars and belongings.

Targeted Aggression During Harvest Season

The rise in violence by colonists is deliberate. This time marks the start of harvest seasons. Beyond a crucial economic activity, it constitutes an significant communal and national occasion that demonstrates resilience under occupation. Exactly for these reasons, year after year colonists target Palestinians throughout this precious time. During the 2024 harvest period, rights groups recorded 113 separate cases of violence, harassment, preventing harvesting, or destruction to olive groves and crops involving settlers and soldiers, which occurred on territories owned by 51 Palestinian-owned communities, towns, and communities.

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

Yesh Din also found that "Israeli security forces seemed to have played a greater role in hindering the harvesting season". In approximately 70% of cases where entry to lands was violently prevented, troops, border guards, and settler civilian security coordinators were physically present. They either personally stopped Palestinians from reaching and harvesting their property, or neglected to prevent colonists who threatened or attacked them.

Political Support for Colonization

This comes as no shock, as the leader of the settlers' political party, Bezalel Smotrich, was appointed as an additional official in the Defense Ministry responsible for the territorial coordination unit. In one village, for example, a particular military coordination team removed private olive plants of local residents, citing lack of permits, but overlooked infractions by an illegal adjacent colonist encampment. Last week, the Jerusalem district court decided to halt all construction in the outpost, which was built on lands taken by Israeli authorities and illegally given to settlers.

Annexation Goals and International Reaction

In the controlled West Bank, settler terrorism is simply a tool used by the administration to achieve practical incorporation. Earlier this month, Smotrich headed a procession of many of settlers in support of taking over the West Bank. He was reported as stating, "We persist to establish presence with our feet of the territory with numerous settlers, numerous heroes, and countless of colonists who live in this part of the territory ... we need to normalise it and make it eternal."

The colonists and their backers in the parliament are explicit about their motives and intentions. Why, then, do government officials in the Western nations hesitate from substantial sanctions and diplomatic measures? Smotrich was sanctioned by the UK in the summer, but the impact of the penalty has been minimal. He may not be able to go to the United Kingdom and visit the West End, but he still maintains the ministerial power to take lands in the West Bank. Even in the declaration of penalties, the UK emphasized they take place "in his personal capacity" only.

International Recognition and Reality

If the UK government recognizes the truth of settler violence and its serious implications on Palestinian existence, why does it still permit goods from settlements to be sold in stores and outlets in Britain? If Starmer is serious about recognition of Palestine as a sovereign entity, how come he permit the Israeli administration to breach its independence with such aggressive methods? Or was the acknowledgment an empty tactic to silence opposition in the UK, a meaningless act only to be implemented in the rebranding of some cartographic representations?

Route Toward True Resolution

A fair peace must honor the basic entitlements of the Palestinian people for self-recognition, sovereignty, and liberty from military occupation and siege. Only when every human being's worth between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea is respected can we genuinely say reconciliation has been attained.

True peace demands an sovereign Palestinian state alongside Israel: this is the sole formula that enjoises agreement among the global community, the Palestinian leadership, and the Israeli peace camp.

The former US president may have applied influence on the Israeli leader 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 large demonstrations throughout the globe for the liberation of Palestine, and the persistent anti-government protests inside Israel, are the actual factors behind this pressure.

It is thanks to this massive public campaign that a ceasefire has been signed, the captives freed, and the residents of Gaza can enjoy safeguard from destruction. Following the ceasefire agreement has been signed, it is crucial to keep maintaining this influence. The international community has ignored to the atrocities in the strip for too long; it must not make the same error in the West Bank.