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Last Monday, during a combined address by US President Donald Trump and Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli parliament, fellow parliamentarian Ayman Odeh and I raised a banner calling for the recognition of Palestine. We were violently ejected from the parliamentary session, exposing the fragile state of what's frequently portrayed as the "only democratic state in the Middle East". How can officials talk about Middle East peace while declining to recognize a people denied of basic freedoms and rights under decades-long occupation?

The Reality in the Occupied West Bank

Nowhere is the hypocrisy more evident than in the occupied West Bank. There, words of reconciliation sound distant and weak, while the terrifying sounds of colonist attacks and terror continue strongly. More than 30 occurrences of settler aggression against Palestinians have been recorded since the unveiling of the Trump administration's 20-point plan in September's end, featuring physical assaults, stealing of crops, and burning of vehicles and belongings.

Systematic Violence During Harvest Season

The increase in violence by colonists is not coincidental. This time marks the beginning of agricultural harvesting. More than a vital economic activity, it represents an significant social and cultural moment that demonstrates endurance under occupation. Exactly for these reasons, annually settlers attack Palestinians during this precious period. During the last year's agricultural season, rights groups documented 113 distinct incidents of aggression, intimidation, harvest-thwarting, or damage to olive trees and produce by Israeli civilians and soldiers, which took place on territories owned by 51 Palestinian-owned villages, towns, and communities.

Israeli military seemed to have played a larger part in hindering the harvesting season

Yesh Din also discovered that "Israel's military appeared to have played a larger part in hindering the olive harvest". In about 70% of cases where access to farmland was forcibly blocked, soldiers, border guards, and settler civilian security coordinators were physically on site. They either directly stopped Palestinian farmers from reaching and harvesting their own lands, or neglected to prevent settlers who harassed or assaulted them.

Government Backing for Settler Activities

This comes as no shock, as the head of the colonists' political movement, Bezalel Smotrich, was named as an additional minister in the Ministry of Defence responsible for the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. In Umm al-Khair, for instance, a particular COGAT unit uprooted personally-owned olive trees of Palestinians, citing missing documentation, but ignored infractions by an illegal nearby settler outpost. Last week, the Jerusalem district court decided to halt all building work in the encampment, which was built on lands seized by Israel and unlawfully transferred to colonists.

Annexation Goals and International Reaction

In the occupied West Bank, colonist violence is nothing but a instrument used by the government to pursue de-facto incorporation. Recently, Smotrich headed a march of thousands of settlers in favor of annexation the West Bank. He was quoted as saying, "We persist to establish presence with our presence of the Land of Israel with many pioneers, numerous champions, and hundreds of thousands of settlers who live in this area of the land ... we need to normalize it and make it eternal."

The settlers and their supporters in the parliament are clear about their motives and goals. Why, then, do government officials in the west hesitate from meaningful sanctions and diplomatic measures? Smotrich was sanctioned by the United Kingdom in June, but the impact of the penalty has been minimal. He may not be able to travel to the United Kingdom and tour the West End, but he still enjoys the governmental authority to seize lands in the West Bank. Remarkably in the declaration of sanctions, the UK highlighted they apply "in his personal capacity" solely.

Global Recognition and Reality

If the British administration acknowledges the truth of colonist aggression and its grave implications on Palestinian existence, why does it still allow goods from settlements to be marketed in markets and outlets in Britain? If the British leader is genuine about recognition of Palestine as a sovereign entity, how can he allow the Israeli administration to violate its sovereignty with such aggressive methods? Or was the acknowledgment an hollow ploy to silence dissenting voices in the UK, a hollow act only to be implemented in the rebranding of some maps?

Route Toward True Peace

A fair peace must honor the basic entitlements of the Palestinian population for self-determination, independence, and liberty from occupation and siege. Only when every person's worth across the river and sea is honored can we genuinely declare peace has been achieved.

True peace requires an sovereign Palestinian nation alongside Israel: this is the sole formula that enjoises consensus among the international community, the Palestinian national movement, and the Israeli peace advocates.

Trump may have applied pressure on the Israeli leader to stop the genocide, 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 world for the liberation of Palestinian territories, and the unwavering opposition demonstrations inside Israel, are the actual forces behind this influence.

It is thanks to this enormous civil movement that a truce has been signed, the captives released, and the people of Gaza can enjoy safeguard from annihilation. Following the ceasefire agreement has been finalized, it is crucial to keep applying this influence. The international community has turned a blind eye to the atrocities in the strip for many years; it must not make the same error in the occupied territories.