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Last week, during a combined address by US President Donald Trump and Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli parliament, colleague parliamentarian Ayman Odeh and I raised a sign calling for the recognition of Palestine. We were forcibly ejected from the parliamentary assembly, revealing the weak state of what's often portrayed as the "only democratic state in the Middle East". How can officials talk about Middle East peace while refusing to recognize a population deprived of fundamental freedoms and rights under long-standing occupation?

The Reality in the West Bank

Nowhere is the hypocrisy more evident than in the occupied West Bank. There, talk of reconciliation seem remote and weak, while the terrifying echoes of colonist attacks and intimidation continue strongly. More than 30 incidents of violence by settlers against Palestinian civilians have been recorded since the announcement of the US peace proposal in late September, featuring attacks, theft of crops, and burning of cars and belongings.

Targeted Violence During Agricultural Period

The increase in settler terrorism is deliberate. This time signals the beginning of agricultural harvesting. Beyond a crucial economic event, it represents an important communal and cultural moment that demonstrates resilience under military rule. Exactly for these reasons, annually colonists target Palestinian farmers during this crucial period. During the 2024 harvest period, rights groups documented 113 distinct cases of aggression, harassment, preventing harvesting, or destruction to olive groves and produce by Israeli civilians and military personnel, which occurred on territories belonging to 51 Palestinian-owned communities, municipalities, and areas.

Israeli military seemed to have played a greater role in obstructing the harvesting season

The human rights group also found that "Israel's military appeared to have had a greater role in obstructing the harvesting season". In approximately 70% of cases where entry to farmland was violently prevented, soldiers, border police officers, and settler security officials were physically present. They either directly prevented Palestinian farmers from reaching and harvesting their own lands, or failed to stop colonists who harassed or assaulted them.

Government Backing for Settler Activities

This comes as no shock, as the head of the colonists' political movement, Bezalel Smotrich, was appointed as an additional minister in the Defense Ministry responsible for the territorial coordination unit. In Umm al-Khair, for example, a particular COGAT unit removed personally-owned olive trees of local residents, claiming lack of permits, but overlooked infractions by an unauthorized nearby settler outpost. Last week, the local court decided to stop all building work in the outpost, which was built on lands seized by Israeli authorities and unlawfully given to colonists.

Annexation Goals and International Reaction

In the occupied West Bank, settler terrorism is simply a tool used by the administration to pursue practical incorporation. Earlier this month, Smotrich led a march of thousands of settlers in favor of annexation the West Bank. He was reported as stating, "We persist to establish presence with our feet of the territory with many settlers, numerous champions, and hundreds of thousands of settlers who live in this area of the land ... we need to normalise it and make it eternal."

The settlers and their backers in the parliament are explicit about their motives and goals. Why, then, do government officials in the west hesitate from substantial penalties and political actions? Smotrich was sanctioned by the UK in June, but the impact of the sanction has been limited. He may not be able to go to the UK and visit the West End, but he still maintains the ministerial power to take territories in the West Bank. Remarkably in the declaration of penalties, the British government emphasized they take place "in his personal capacity" only.

International Acknowledgment and Reality

If the UK government recognizes the reality of colonist aggression and its serious implications on Palestinian existence, why does it still permit goods from settlements to be sold in markets and shops in the UK? If the British leader is genuine about recognition of Palestine as a state, how come he allow the Israeli government to breach its independence with such aggressive methods? Or was the acknowledgment an empty tactic to shut down dissenting voices in the United Kingdom, a meaningless act only to be realised in the relabeling of some maps?

Route Toward True Resolution

A just peace must respect the fundamental rights of the Palestinian population for self-determination, independence, and freedom from military occupation and blockade. Only when each human being's dignity across the river and sea is honored can we genuinely declare peace has been attained.

Genuine resolution demands an sovereign Palestinian nation next to Israel: this is the only formula that has consensus among the global 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 isolated government of Netanyahu had become excessive. The large demonstrations throughout the world for the freedom of Palestinian territories, and the unwavering opposition demonstrations inside Israel, are the real forces behind this pressure.

It is thanks to this enormous public campaign that a ceasefire has been agreed, the hostages released, and the residents of Gaza can experience safeguard from destruction. Following the truce arrangement has been signed, it is vital to continue maintaining this influence. The world has ignored to the atrocities in Gaza for too long; it must not repeat the same error in the occupied territories.