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Last Monday, amid a joint speech by American leader Donald Trump and Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli parliament, colleague lawmaker Ayman Odeh and I raised a banner calling for the acknowledgment of the Palestinian state. We were violently ejected from the legislative assembly, exposing the weak state of what's often described as the "sole democratic state in the Middle East". How can officials talk about regional peace while refusing to recognize a population deprived of fundamental freedoms and entitlements under decades-long occupation?

The Situation in the Occupied West Bank

Nowhere is the hypocrisy more apparent than in the occupied West Bank. There, talk of peace sound remote and faint, while the terrifying sounds of settler violence and intimidation persist strongly. More than 30 occurrences of violence by settlers against Palestinian civilians have been documented since the unveiling of the US 20-point plan in late September, featuring attacks, stealing of agricultural produce, and torching of cars and property.

Targeted Violence During Agricultural Period

The rise in settler terrorism is not coincidental. This time marks the start of agricultural harvesting. Beyond a crucial economic activity, it represents an important social and national moment that shows resilience under occupation. Precisely for these reasons, year after year settlers target Palestinians throughout this crucial time. During the last year's agricultural season, human rights organizations recorded 113 separate cases of violence, harassment, harvest-thwarting, or damage to olive groves and produce by Israeli civilians and soldiers, which took place on lands belonging to 51 Palestinian villages, towns, and areas.

Israel's security forces seemed to have had a larger role in obstructing the harvesting season

The human rights group also discovered that "Israeli military seemed to have had a greater role in obstructing the olive harvest". In approximately 70% of instances where entry to farmland was violently prevented, soldiers, border guards, and settlement security officials were physically on site. They either directly stopped Palestinians from reaching and harvesting their own lands, or failed to prevent colonists who threatened or attacked them.

Government Support for Colonization

This comes as no shock, as the leader of the colonists' political movement, Bezalel Smotrich, was appointed as an additional official in the Defense Ministry in charge of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. In one village, for instance, a particular COGAT unit uprooted private olive trees of local residents, claiming lack of permits, but ignored violations by an unauthorized adjacent colonist encampment. Last week, the local court ruled to stop all building work in the outpost, which was built on property taken by Israeli authorities and unlawfully given to settlers.

Takeover Goals and Global Response

In the controlled West Bank, settler terrorism is simply a tool used by the government to achieve de-facto incorporation. Recently, Smotrich headed a march of thousands of colonists in favor of annexation the West Bank. He was quoted as saying, "We persist to establish presence with our feet of the Land of Israel with numerous pioneers, numerous champions, and countless of settlers who live in this area of the land ... we must to normalise it and make it eternal."

The colonists and their backers in the Knesset are clear about their motives and intentions. Why, then, do government officials in the west hesitate from substantial sanctions and political actions? Smotrich was penalized by the UK in the summer, but the effect of the penalty has been limited. He may not be permitted to travel to the UK and tour the London's entertainment district, but he still enjoys the ministerial power to seize territories in the West Bank. Remarkably in the announcement of penalties, the UK emphasized they apply "personally" only.

International Acknowledgment and Actual Situation

If the British administration recognizes the reality of settler violence and its serious implications on Palestinian existence, why does it still allow settlement produce to be marketed in markets and outlets in the UK? If Starmer is serious about acknowledging Palestinian statehood as a state, how can he permit the Israeli administration to violate its independence with such violent means? Or was the acknowledgment an empty tactic to silence dissenting voices in the United Kingdom, a meaningless act only to be realised in the relabeling of some cartographic representations?

Pathway to True Resolution

A just peace must respect the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people for self-determination, independence, and freedom from military occupation and blockade. Only when every person's dignity between the river and sea is honored can we genuinely say peace has been achieved.

Genuine resolution demands an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel: this is the sole solution that enjoises consensus among the international community, the Palestinian national movement, and the Israeli peace camp.

The former US president may have inflicted pressure on Netanyahu to halt the violence, but he likely only did so because the strain of his connection with the isolated government of the Israeli PM had become too great. The mass protests throughout the world for the liberation of Palestinian territories, and the persistent opposition demonstrations within Israel, are the actual factors behind this pressure.

It is thanks to this enormous public campaign that a truce has been signed, the hostages released, and the residents of the territory can enjoy protection from annihilation. After the ceasefire agreement has been signed, it is vital to continue applying this influence. The world has turned a blind eye to the atrocities in the strip for too long; it must not make the same error in the occupied territories.