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Last week, during a joint speech by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister 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 forcibly ejected from the legislative session, revealing the fragile condition of what's often portrayed as the "only democratic state in the region". How can leaders talk about Middle East peace while declining to acknowledge a population denied of basic freedoms and rights under long-standing occupation?

The Situation in the Occupied West Bank

In no place is the deceit more apparent than in the occupied West Bank. There, words of peace sound remote and weak, while the terrifying sounds of colonist attacks and terror continue loudly. Over 30 occurrences of violence by settlers against Palestinian civilians have been recorded since the announcement of the US peace proposal in September's end, featuring physical assaults, theft of crops, and torching of cars and property.

Systematic Aggression During Harvest Season

The rise in violence by colonists is not coincidental. This period signals the beginning of harvest seasons. Beyond a crucial economic activity, it represents an significant social and cultural occasion that demonstrates resilience under military rule. Precisely for these causes, year after year settlers target Palestinians during this precious period. During the last year's agricultural period, human rights organizations recorded 113 separate incidents of aggression, intimidation, harvest-thwarting, or destruction to olive groves and crops involving settlers and military personnel, which took place on territories belonging to 51 Palestinian-owned communities, municipalities, and communities.

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

The human rights group also discovered that "Israel's security forces seemed to have played a greater part in obstructing the olive harvest". In approximately 70% of instances where access to lands was violently blocked, troops, border police officers, and settler civilian security coordinators were actually on site. They either personally stopped Palestinians from accessing and gathering their own lands, or failed to stop colonists who threatened or attacked 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 Defense Ministry responsible for the territorial coordination unit. In Umm al-Khair, for example, a special military coordination team removed personally-owned olive trees of local residents, citing lack of permits, but overlooked violations by an illegal adjacent settler outpost. Last week, the local court decided to halt all building work in the outpost, which was constructed on property seized by Israel and illegally given to colonists.

Takeover Goals and Global Response

In the occupied West Bank, settler terrorism is simply a instrument used by the government to achieve de-facto incorporation. Earlier this month, Smotrich headed a procession of thousands of colonists in support of taking over the West Bank. He was quoted as stating, "We persist to establish presence with our feet of the territory with many settlers, many 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 clear about their motives and intentions. Why, then, do government officials in the Western nations hesitate from substantial penalties and political actions? Smotrich was sanctioned by the UK in the summer, but the impact of the penalty has been limited. He may not be able to travel to the United Kingdom and visit the London's entertainment district, but he still enjoys the governmental authority to take lands in the West Bank. Remarkably in the declaration of sanctions, the UK highlighted they apply "personally" solely.

International Recognition and Reality

If the British administration acknowledges the reality of settler violence and its grave consequences on Palestinian existence, why does it still permit settlement produce to be marketed in stores and outlets in the UK? If the British leader is serious about acknowledging Palestinian statehood as a state, how can he permit the Israeli administration to breach its independence with such aggressive methods? Or was the recognition an hollow tactic to silence dissenting voices in the United Kingdom, a meaningless gesture only to be implemented in the relabeling of some cartographic representations?

Route Toward Genuine Peace

A just peace must respect the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people for self-recognition, independence, and freedom from military occupation and blockade. Only when every human being's worth between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea is honored can we genuinely declare reconciliation has been attained.

Genuine resolution requires an sovereign Palestinian nation alongside Israel: this is the sole formula that has consensus among the global community, the Palestinian national movement, and the Israeli peace advocates.

The former US president may have applied pressure on Netanyahu to halt the violence, but he probably only did so because the burden of his connection with the pariah regime of the Israeli PM had become too great. The large demonstrations across the globe for the liberation of Palestinian territories, and the persistent anti-government protests inside the country, are the real factors behind this influence.

It is due to this enormous public campaign that a truce has been agreed, the hostages released, and the people of Gaza can enjoy safeguard from annihilation. Following the truce arrangement has been signed, it is crucial to continue maintaining this pressure. The international community has ignored to the violence in Gaza for many years; it must not repeat the same error in the occupied territories.