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Last Monday, during a combined address by American leader Donald Trump and Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli parliament, colleague lawmaker Ayman Odeh and I displayed a banner urging the acknowledgment of the Palestinian state. We were forcibly removed from the parliamentary assembly, exposing the weak state of what's often portrayed as the "only democratic state in the region". How can leaders speak about regional peace while refusing to recognize a people denied of basic freedoms and rights under long-standing military control?

The Situation in the Occupied West Bank

Nowhere is the deceit more apparent than in the controlled West Bank. There, words of peace sound distant and weak, while the frightening echoes of colonist attacks and intimidation continue loudly. Over 30 incidents of settler aggression against Palestinians have been documented since the announcement of the US 20-point plan in late September, including physical assaults, theft of crops, and burning of vehicles and property.

Systematic Violence During Agricultural Period

The rise in settler terrorism is not coincidental. This period signals the start of agricultural harvesting. Beyond a crucial economic event, it represents an important social and cultural occasion that shows resilience under occupation. Precisely for these reasons, year after year settlers attack Palestinians throughout this precious period. During the last year's agricultural season, rights groups documented 113 distinct incidents of aggression, harassment, preventing harvesting, or destruction to olive groves and crops involving Israeli civilians and military personnel, which took place on territories owned by 51 Palestinian-owned villages, towns, and areas.

Israeli security forces appeared to have had a larger role in hindering the harvesting season

The human rights group also discovered that "Israel's security forces seemed to have had a greater part in obstructing the harvesting season". In approximately 70% of instances where access to farmland was violently prevented, troops, border guards, and settler civilian security coordinators were physically on site. They either personally prevented Palestinians from reaching and gathering their property, or neglected to stop settlers who threatened or assaulted them.

Political Support for Settler Activities

This is no surprise, as the head of the colonists' political movement, Bezalel Smotrich, was appointed as an additional minister in the Ministry of Defence in charge of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. In one village, for example, a special military coordination team removed personally-owned olive plants of Palestinians, claiming missing documentation, but ignored violations by an illegal nearby settler outpost. Last week, the Jerusalem district court decided to stop all construction in the outpost, which was constructed on lands taken by Israel and unlawfully transferred to settlers.

Takeover Goals and International Response

In the controlled West Bank, colonist violence is nothing but a tool used by the administration to achieve de-facto incorporation. Recently, Smotrich headed a procession of thousands of colonists in support of annexation the West Bank. He was reported as saying, "We persist to take hold with our presence of the territory with numerous pioneers, many heroes, and hundreds of thousands of settlers who reside in this area of the land ... we must to normalize it and make it eternal."

The settlers and their supporters in the parliament are clear about their intentions and intentions. Why, then, do government officials in the Western nations refrain from substantial sanctions and political actions? Smotrich was penalized by the United Kingdom in the summer, but the effect of the sanction has been limited. He may not be permitted to travel to the United Kingdom and tour the West End, but he still maintains the ministerial power to seize territories in the West Bank. Even in the declaration of penalties, the British government highlighted they apply "personally" only.

Global Acknowledgment and Actual Situation

If the UK government recognizes the truth of settler violence and its serious consequences on Palestinian life, why does it still allow settlement produce to be marketed in markets and outlets in the UK? If Starmer is serious about recognition of Palestine as a sovereign entity, how can he allow the Israeli government to breach its sovereignty with such aggressive methods? Or was the recognition an empty ploy to silence dissenting voices in the United Kingdom, a hollow gesture only to be implemented in the rebranding of some cartographic representations?

Route Toward Genuine Resolution

A just peace must honor the fundamental entitlements of the Palestinian people for self-recognition, independence, and liberty from occupation and siege. Only when each person's worth across the river and sea is respected can we truly declare peace has been achieved.

Genuine peace demands an sovereign Palestinian nation next to the Israeli state: this is the only formula that has agreement among the international community, the Palestinian leadership, and the Israeli peace advocates.

Trump may have applied pressure on the Israeli leader to stop the violence, but he likely only did so because the burden of his relationship with the pariah regime of Netanyahu had become too great. The mass protests across the world for the liberation of Palestinian territories, and the persistent opposition demonstrations inside the country, are the actual factors behind this influence.

It is thanks to this enormous public campaign that a ceasefire has been signed, the captives freed, and the people of Gaza can experience protection from annihilation. Following the truce arrangement has been signed, it is crucial to keep maintaining this influence. The world has ignored to the violence in the strip for too long; it must not repeat the same error in the West Bank.