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Last Monday, amid a combined speech by American leader Donald Trump and Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu at the Knesset, colleague lawmaker Ayman Odeh and I displayed a banner calling for the acknowledgment of the Palestinian state. We were violently ejected from the parliamentary assembly, revealing the weak condition of what's often portrayed as the "sole democratic state in the region". How can officials speak about Middle East peace while refusing to acknowledge a population denied of fundamental liberties and entitlements under long-standing occupation?

The Reality in the Occupied West Bank

Nowhere is the hypocrisy more apparent than in the controlled West Bank. There, talk of peace sound remote and faint, while the terrifying sounds of settler violence and terror persist loudly. Over 30 incidents of violence by settlers against Palestinian civilians have been documented since the unveiling of the Trump administration's 20-point plan in September's end, including attacks, theft of agricultural produce, and torching of cars and belongings.

Systematic Aggression During Harvest Season

The increase in violence by colonists is deliberate. This period marks the beginning of harvest seasons. More than a crucial economic event, it represents an important communal and cultural moment that demonstrates resilience under military rule. Precisely for these causes, annually settlers attack Palestinian farmers during this precious period. During the last year's agricultural season, rights groups documented 113 separate cases of violence, intimidation, preventing harvesting, or damage to olive trees and produce involving Israeli civilians and military personnel, which took place on lands owned by 51 Palestinian-owned communities, municipalities, and areas.

Israeli security forces seemed to have had a greater part in hindering the harvesting season

Yesh Din also found that "Israel's security forces seemed to have played a greater role in obstructing the olive harvest". In about 70% of instances where entry to farmland was violently prevented, troops, border guards, and settlement security officials were actually present. They either directly prevented Palestinians from reaching and gathering their own lands, or failed to prevent colonists who harassed or attacked them.

Government Support for Colonization

This is no shock, as the head of the settlers' political party, Bezalel Smotrich, was named as an additional official in the Ministry of Defence responsible for the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. In Umm al-Khair, for example, a particular military coordination team removed private olive plants of Palestinians, claiming missing documentation, but overlooked infractions by an illegal adjacent colonist encampment. Last week, the Jerusalem district court decided to stop all construction in the outpost, which was built on property taken by Israeli authorities and unlawfully given to settlers.

Takeover Ambitions and International Response

In the controlled West Bank, settler terrorism is nothing but a tool used by the government to pursue practical annexation. Recently, Smotrich led a procession of thousands of settlers in favor of taking over the West Bank. He was quoted as saying, "We persist to take hold with our feet of the territory with many settlers, numerous champions, and countless of colonists who live in this part of the land ... we must to normalize it and establish it permanently."

The settlers and their backers in the Knesset are explicit about their intentions and intentions. Why, then, do political leaders in the west hesitate from meaningful sanctions and diplomatic measures? Smotrich was sanctioned by the UK in the summer, but the effect of the sanction has been limited. He may not be able to travel to the UK and visit the London's entertainment district, but he still maintains the ministerial power to take territories in the West Bank. Even in the declaration of sanctions, the UK highlighted they take place "personally" solely.

International Recognition and Actual Situation

If the British administration recognizes the reality of settler violence and its grave implications on Palestinian life, why does it still allow settlement produce to be marketed in markets and outlets in Britain? If the British leader is serious about recognition of Palestine as a sovereign entity, how come he permit the Israeli government to violate its sovereignty with such violent means? Or was the acknowledgment an hollow tactic to shut down dissenting voices in the UK, a meaningless act only to be implemented in the rebranding of some cartographic representations?

Route Toward True Peace

A just resolution must honor the fundamental entitlements of the Palestinian population for self-determination, sovereignty, and freedom from occupation and siege. Only when every person's worth between the river and sea is respected can we genuinely declare reconciliation has been attained.

True peace requires an independent Palestinian state next to Israel: this is the sole solution that enjoises agreement among the global community, the Palestinian leadership, and the Israeli peace camp.

Trump may have inflicted pressure on Netanyahu to halt the genocide, but he probably only did so because the strain of his connection with the pariah regime of Netanyahu had become excessive. The mass protests across the globe for the liberation of Palestine, and the persistent opposition protests within the country, are the actual forces behind this pressure.

It is thanks to this enormous public campaign that a ceasefire has been signed, the captives released, and the people of the territory can experience safeguard from annihilation. After the truce arrangement has been signed, it is vital to keep applying this influence. The international community has turned a blind eye to the atrocities in Gaza for many years; it must not repeat the same error in the occupied territories.