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Last Monday, during a joint address by American leader Donald Trump and Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli parliament, fellow lawmaker Ayman Odeh and I displayed a sign urging the recognition of Palestine. We were forcibly ejected from the parliamentary session, exposing the weak condition of what's often described as the "sole democracy in the region". How can leaders speak about regional peace while declining to recognize a people denied of fundamental liberties and rights under long-standing military control?

The Situation in the Occupied West Bank

In no place is the hypocrisy more evident than in the occupied West Bank. There, words of reconciliation sound distant and faint, while the frightening echoes of settler violence and intimidation persist loudly. More than 30 occurrences of violence by settlers against Palestinian civilians have been recorded since the unveiling of the US 20-point plan in late September, featuring attacks, stealing of agricultural produce, and torching of cars and property.

Systematic Aggression During Agricultural Period

The rise in violence by colonists is not coincidental. This period signals the start of agricultural harvesting. More than a vital economic activity, it represents an significant social and national moment that demonstrates resilience under military rule. Exactly for these causes, annually settlers attack Palestinians throughout this precious period. During the last year's agricultural season, rights groups recorded 113 distinct incidents of violence, intimidation, preventing harvesting, or damage to olive groves and crops by Israeli civilians and military personnel, which took place on territories belonging to 51 Palestinian villages, municipalities, and communities.

Israel's security forces seemed to have had a greater role in hindering the harvesting season

The human rights group also found that "Israeli security forces appeared to have had a greater role in obstructing the harvesting season". In approximately 70% of instances where access to lands was violently prevented, soldiers, border police officers, and settler civilian security coordinators were physically present. They either directly stopped Palestinian farmers from reaching and gathering their property, or failed to prevent colonists who threatened or attacked them.

Political Backing for Colonization

This comes as no surprise, as the head of the settlers' political party, Bezalel Smotrich, was appointed as an extra official in the Ministry of Defence responsible for the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. In Umm al-Khair, for example, a special COGAT unit uprooted private olive trees of Palestinians, claiming lack of permits, but overlooked violations by an illegal adjacent settler outpost. Last week, the Jerusalem district court ruled to stop all building work in the encampment, which was built on property seized by Israel and unlawfully transferred to colonists.

Annexation Ambitions and Global Response

In the controlled West Bank, colonist violence is simply a instrument used by the administration to pursue practical annexation. Recently, Smotrich led a march of many of settlers in support of taking over the West Bank. He was reported as saying, "We are continuing to take hold with our feet of the Land of Israel with many pioneers, numerous champions, and hundreds of thousands of colonists who live in this area of the territory ... we need to normalize it and establish it permanently."

The settlers and their supporters in the Knesset are clear about their intentions and intentions. Why, then, do government officials in the Western nations refrain from substantial sanctions and diplomatic measures? Smotrich was sanctioned by the UK in June, but the impact of the sanction has been minimal. He may not be permitted to travel to the UK and tour the London's entertainment district, but he still enjoys the governmental authority to take lands in the West Bank. Even in the declaration of penalties, the British government emphasized they take place "personally" solely.

Global Acknowledgment and Actual Situation

If the UK government recognizes the reality of colonist aggression and its serious consequences on Palestinian existence, why does it still allow goods from settlements to be sold in markets and shops in the UK? If Starmer is serious about recognition of Palestine as a sovereign entity, how come he allow the Israeli administration to violate its independence with such aggressive methods? Or was the acknowledgment an empty tactic to shut down opposition in the United Kingdom, a hollow act only to be realised in the rebranding of some maps?

Route Toward True Resolution

A just peace must respect the basic rights of the Palestinian people for self-determination, sovereignty, and freedom from military occupation and siege. Only when every person's dignity across the river and Mediterranean Sea is respected can we genuinely declare reconciliation has been achieved.

Genuine peace requires an independent Palestinian nation next to the Israeli state: this is the only solution that has agreement among the global community, the Palestinian leadership, and the Israeli peace camp.

The former US president may have inflicted pressure on the Israeli leader to stop 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 across the globe for the freedom of Palestinian territories, and the unwavering anti-government demonstrations within Israel, are the actual factors behind this influence.

It is due to this massive civil movement that a truce has been signed, the captives freed, and the residents of the territory can experience safeguard from annihilation. After the ceasefire agreement has been signed, it is vital to continue applying this influence. The world has ignored to the violence in the strip for many years; it must not repeat the same mistake in the occupied territories.