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Last week, amid a combined speech by American leader Donald Trump and Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli parliament, fellow parliamentarian Ayman Odeh and I raised a sign calling for the acknowledgment of Palestine. We were violently ejected from the parliamentary session, revealing the fragile state of what's frequently described as the "only democracy in the Middle East". How can leaders talk about regional peace while declining to recognize a population denied of basic freedoms and rights under decades-long military control?

The Reality in the Occupied West Bank

In no place is the hypocrisy more apparent than in the occupied West Bank. There, talk of peace sound distant and weak, while the terrifying sounds of settler violence and intimidation continue strongly. More than 30 incidents of settler aggression against Palestinians have been documented since the announcement of the Trump administration's 20-point plan in September's end, featuring attacks, theft of crops, and burning of vehicles and property.

Systematic Aggression During Agricultural Period

The rise in violence by colonists is deliberate. This period signals the beginning of harvest seasons. Beyond a crucial economic event, it represents an significant social and cultural moment that shows endurance under military rule. Exactly for these causes, year after year colonists target Palestinians during this precious period. During the 2024 harvest period, rights groups recorded 113 separate cases of aggression, intimidation, harvest-thwarting, or damage to olive trees and produce involving settlers and soldiers, which occurred on territories belonging to 51 Palestinian villages, towns, and areas.

Israeli military seemed to have had a greater part in obstructing the olive harvest

Yesh Din also found that "Israel's military appeared to have had a larger role in obstructing the olive harvest". In about 70% of instances where access to lands was violently prevented, troops, border guards, and settlement security officials were physically on site. They either personally prevented Palestinian farmers from accessing and gathering their property, or neglected to stop settlers who harassed or attacked them.

Government Support for Settler Activities

This is no shock, as the leader of the settlers' political party, Bezalel Smotrich, was appointed as an extra official in the Defense Ministry responsible for the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. In Umm al-Khair, for instance, a particular COGAT unit uprooted private olive plants of Palestinians, citing missing documentation, but overlooked violations by an illegal adjacent settler outpost. Last week, the local court ruled to halt all construction in the encampment, which was constructed on lands taken by Israeli authorities and unlawfully given to settlers.

Annexation Goals and Global Reaction

In the controlled West Bank, settler terrorism is nothing but a tool used by the government to pursue de-facto annexation. Recently, Smotrich led a procession of many of settlers in favor of annexation the West Bank. He was quoted as stating, "We are continuing to take hold with our presence of the territory with many settlers, numerous champions, and hundreds of thousands of settlers who live in this area of the land ... we must to normalise it and establish it permanently."

The colonists and their supporters in the Knesset are explicit about their intentions and intentions. Why, then, do government officials in the west refrain from substantial penalties and diplomatic measures? Smotrich was penalized by the United Kingdom in the summer, but the effect of the sanction has been limited. He may not be able to go to the UK and visit the West End, but he still enjoys the governmental authority to seize territories in the West Bank. Even in the declaration of sanctions, the UK emphasized they apply "personally" only.

International Acknowledgment and Actual Situation

If the UK government recognizes the reality of settler violence and its grave implications on Palestinian existence, why does it still permit settlement produce to be sold in stores and outlets in the UK? If the British leader is serious about acknowledging Palestinian statehood as a sovereign entity, how can he permit the Israeli government to violate its sovereignty with such aggressive methods? Or was the acknowledgment an empty tactic to silence opposition in the UK, a meaningless act only to be implemented in the rebranding of some cartographic representations?

Pathway to True Peace

A fair resolution must honor the basic rights of the Palestinian population for self-determination, sovereignty, and freedom from occupation and siege. Only when each human being's dignity between the Jordan River and sea is honored can we genuinely say peace has been achieved.

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

The former US president may have inflicted influence on the Israeli leader to stop the genocide, but he likely only did so because the strain of his connection with the pariah regime of the Israeli PM had become too great. The large demonstrations throughout the world for the liberation of Palestine, and the unwavering opposition demonstrations inside Israel, are the actual forces behind this pressure.

It is thanks to this massive public campaign that a truce has been agreed, the captives freed, and the people of Gaza can enjoy safeguard from annihilation. Following the ceasefire agreement has been finalized, it is crucial to keep applying this pressure. The international community has turned a blind eye to the atrocities in the strip for many years; it must not repeat the same error in the occupied territories.