🔗 Share this article

Last week, during a joint address by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Knesset, fellow parliamentarian Ayman Odeh and I displayed a sign calling for the recognition of Palestine. We were forcibly removed from the legislative session, revealing the fragile state of what's often 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 fundamental liberties and entitlements under long-standing occupation?

The Reality in the Occupied West Bank

Nowhere is the hypocrisy more evident than in the occupied West Bank. There, words of peace seem distant and faint, while the terrifying echoes of settler violence and terror persist loudly. More than 30 occurrences of settler aggression against Palestinians have been documented since the announcement of the US 20-point plan in late September, including physical assaults, stealing of agricultural produce, and torching of vehicles and belongings.

Targeted Aggression During Agricultural Period

The increase in settler terrorism is deliberate. This time marks the beginning of agricultural harvesting. More than a vital economic activity, it represents an important social and national moment that demonstrates endurance under military rule. Precisely for these causes, annually settlers target Palestinian farmers throughout this precious time. During the 2024 harvest period, human rights organizations recorded 113 separate incidents of aggression, harassment, preventing harvesting, or destruction to olive groves and produce involving Israeli civilians and military personnel, which occurred on territories belonging to 51 Palestinian-owned villages, municipalities, and communities.

Israeli security forces appeared to have had a larger part in obstructing the harvesting season

The human rights group also discovered that "Israel's security forces appeared to have had a greater part in obstructing the olive harvest". In approximately 70% of cases where entry to farmland was violently blocked, soldiers, border guards, and settler civilian security coordinators were actually present. They either personally stopped Palestinian farmers from accessing and harvesting their property, or neglected to stop colonists who threatened or attacked them.

Political Backing for Colonization

This comes as no shock, as the head of the settlers' political party, Bezalel Smotrich, was named as an additional official in the Ministry of Defence responsible for the territorial coordination unit. In Umm al-Khair, for example, a special COGAT unit removed private olive trees of local residents, citing missing documentation, but overlooked violations by an unauthorized nearby colonist encampment. Last week, the Jerusalem district court decided to halt all construction in the outpost, which was constructed on lands taken by Israel and illegally given to colonists.

Annexation Goals and Global Reaction

In the controlled West Bank, settler terrorism is simply a tool used by the government to pursue practical annexation. Earlier this month, Smotrich led a procession of many of colonists in favor of annexation the West Bank. He was quoted as saying, "We persist to establish presence with our presence of the territory with numerous pioneers, numerous champions, and countless of settlers who reside in this part of the land ... we must to normalize it and establish it permanently."

The settlers and their backers in the parliament are explicit about their intentions and intentions. Why, then, do political leaders in the west hesitate from meaningful sanctions and diplomatic measures? Smotrich was sanctioned by the United Kingdom in the summer, but the impact of the penalty has been limited. He may not be able to travel to the UK and visit the West End, but he still enjoys the governmental authority to take lands in the West Bank. Remarkably in the announcement of sanctions, the UK highlighted they take place "in his personal capacity" solely.

International Acknowledgment and Reality

If the UK government recognizes the truth of colonist aggression and its serious implications on Palestinian existence, why does it still permit settlement produce to be sold in markets and shops in Britain? If the British leader is serious about acknowledging Palestinian statehood as a sovereign entity, how can he permit the Israeli administration to violate its independence with such violent means? Or was the recognition an hollow tactic to silence opposition in the United Kingdom, a meaningless act only to be implemented in the rebranding of some cartographic representations?

Pathway to Genuine Peace

A fair peace must respect the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people for self-recognition, sovereignty, and freedom from military occupation and blockade. Only when every person's worth across the river and sea is honored can we genuinely say peace has been achieved.

True peace demands an sovereign Palestinian state alongside the Israeli state: this is the only 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 the Israeli leader to stop the violence, but he probably only did so because the strain of his connection with the isolated government of the Israeli PM had become too great. The large demonstrations throughout the world for the freedom of Palestine, and the persistent opposition protests inside the country, are the real forces behind this influence.

It is due to this massive civil movement that a ceasefire has been agreed, the captives released, and the people of the territory can enjoy protection from destruction. Following the truce arrangement has been finalized, it is vital to continue applying this pressure. The international community has ignored to the violence in the strip for many years; it must not make the same mistake in the West Bank.