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Last Monday, during a joint speech by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Knesset, colleague lawmaker Ayman Odeh and I raised a sign urging the acknowledgment of the Palestinian state. We were violently ejected from the parliamentary assembly, exposing the weak condition of what's frequently described as the "sole democracy in the region". How can leaders talk about Middle East peace while declining to recognize a population denied of fundamental freedoms and entitlements under long-standing occupation?

The Reality in the West Bank

Nowhere is the hypocrisy more apparent than in the controlled West Bank. There, talk of peace seem distant and faint, while the frightening echoes of colonist attacks and intimidation continue strongly. Over 30 occurrences of settler aggression against Palestinians have been documented since the announcement of the US 20-point plan in September's end, featuring attacks, theft of agricultural produce, and torching of cars and belongings.

Targeted Aggression During Agricultural Period

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 occupation. Exactly for these reasons, year after year colonists attack Palestinian farmers throughout this crucial time. During the 2024 harvest season, human rights organizations recorded 113 distinct cases of violence, intimidation, harvest-thwarting, or damage to olive groves and produce involving Israeli civilians and soldiers, which took place on lands belonging to 51 Palestinian communities, municipalities, and communities.

Israel's security forces appeared to have played a larger role in hindering the olive harvest

The human rights group also found that "Israel's military seemed to have had a larger part in obstructing the olive harvest". In approximately 70% of instances where entry to farmland was forcibly blocked, troops, border guards, and settler security officials were physically on site. They either personally stopped Palestinian farmers from accessing and gathering their property, or neglected to stop settlers who threatened or assaulted them.

Political Support for Colonization

This comes as no shock, as the leader of the settlers' political party, Bezalel Smotrich, was appointed as an extra minister in the Ministry of Defence in charge of the territorial coordination unit. In Umm al-Khair, for example, a special COGAT unit uprooted private olive trees of Palestinians, claiming missing documentation, but ignored violations by an unauthorized nearby colonist encampment. Last week, the Jerusalem district court ruled to halt all building work in the encampment, which was constructed on property taken by Israeli authorities and unlawfully transferred to settlers.

Takeover Goals and International Reaction

In the controlled West Bank, colonist violence is simply a tool used by the administration to achieve practical annexation. Earlier this month, Smotrich led a march of many of colonists in favor of taking over the West Bank. He was reported as saying, "We persist to establish presence with our presence of the Land of Israel with many pioneers, many heroes, and countless of colonists who live in this part of the territory ... we need to normalize it and make it eternal."

The colonists and their supporters in the Knesset are explicit about their intentions and intentions. Why, then, do political leaders in the west hesitate from meaningful sanctions and political actions? Smotrich was sanctioned by the United Kingdom in June, but the effect of the penalty has been minimal. He may not be permitted to go to the United Kingdom and tour the London's entertainment district, but he still maintains the governmental authority to seize lands in the West Bank. Remarkably in the declaration of sanctions, the British government highlighted they take place "personally" only.

International Recognition and Actual Situation

If the UK government acknowledges the reality of colonist aggression and its grave implications on Palestinian life, why does it still allow goods from settlements to be marketed in stores and shops in the UK? If Starmer is serious about recognition of Palestine as a state, how can he permit the Israeli government to breach its sovereignty with such violent means? Or was the recognition an empty tactic to shut down opposition in the United Kingdom, a hollow act only to be implemented in the rebranding of some maps?

Pathway to Genuine Peace

A fair resolution must respect the fundamental entitlements of the Palestinian population for self-determination, sovereignty, and liberty from military occupation and blockade. Only when each person's dignity across the river and Mediterranean Sea is respected can we genuinely say peace has been achieved.

True resolution requires an independent Palestinian nation alongside Israel: this is the sole solution that enjoises consensus among the global community, the Palestinian leadership, and the Israeli peace advocates.

Trump may have inflicted influence on the Israeli leader to stop the violence, but he probably only did so because the strain of his relationship with the pariah regime of the Israeli PM had become too great. The mass protests across the globe for the freedom of Palestinian territories, and the unwavering opposition protests inside Israel, are the real factors behind this influence.

It is due to this massive civil movement that a ceasefire has been agreed, the captives freed, and the residents of Gaza can experience safeguard from annihilation. Following the ceasefire agreement has been finalized, it is crucial to keep maintaining this influence. The international community has turned a blind eye to the violence in the strip for too long; it must not repeat the same error in the West Bank.