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Last week, during a combined address by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli parliament, colleague parliamentarian Ayman Odeh and I raised a banner urging the recognition of Palestine. We were violently ejected from the parliamentary assembly, revealing the weak condition of what's often described as the "only democracy in the Middle East". How can officials speak about regional peace while refusing to acknowledge a population deprived of basic liberties and rights under long-standing occupation?

The Situation in the Occupied West Bank

In no place is the deceit more evident than in the occupied West Bank. There, words of reconciliation seem remote and weak, while the terrifying echoes of colonist attacks and terror continue loudly. Over 30 occurrences of settler aggression against Palestinians have been recorded since the unveiling of the US 20-point plan in September's end, including attacks, theft of crops, and burning of cars and property.

Targeted Violence During Harvest Season

The rise in settler terrorism is deliberate. This time signals the beginning of harvest seasons. Beyond a crucial economic event, it represents an important communal and national occasion that shows resilience under military rule. Exactly for these reasons, year after year colonists target Palestinian farmers throughout this crucial period. During the 2024 harvest season, human rights organizations recorded 113 distinct incidents of aggression, intimidation, harvest-thwarting, or damage to olive groves and crops by Israeli civilians and military personnel, which took place on territories owned by 51 Palestinian villages, municipalities, and communities.

Israeli military appeared to have had a larger part in obstructing the olive harvest

Yesh Din also discovered that "Israel's security forces seemed to have played a larger role in obstructing the olive harvest". In approximately 70% of cases where access to lands was forcibly blocked, soldiers, border guards, and settler civilian security coordinators were actually on site. They either personally stopped Palestinians from reaching and harvesting their property, or neglected to prevent colonists who threatened or assaulted them.

Government Backing for Colonization

This comes as no surprise, as the leader of the colonists' political movement, Bezalel Smotrich, was named as an extra minister in the Ministry of Defence responsible for the territorial coordination unit. In Umm al-Khair, for instance, a special military coordination team removed personally-owned olive trees of Palestinians, citing missing documentation, but ignored infractions by an unauthorized nearby colonist encampment. Last week, the local court decided to stop all construction in the outpost, which was built on lands seized by Israel and illegally given to colonists.

Takeover Ambitions and International Response

In the occupied West Bank, colonist violence is simply a tool used by the government to pursue de-facto annexation. Recently, Smotrich headed a procession of thousands of colonists in favor of taking over the West Bank. He was reported as stating, "We persist to take hold with our feet of the Land of Israel with many pioneers, many champions, and countless of colonists who live in this area of the land ... we must to normalize it and establish it permanently."

The colonists and their supporters in the Knesset are explicit about their motives and goals. Why, then, do government officials in the west refrain from substantial sanctions and political actions? Smotrich was penalized by the UK in the summer, but the effect of the sanction has been limited. He may not be permitted to go to the UK and tour the London's entertainment district, but he still enjoys the ministerial power to take territories in the West Bank. Remarkably in the declaration of penalties, the British government highlighted they take place "in his personal capacity" solely.

International Recognition and Reality

If the UK government acknowledges the truth of colonist aggression and its grave consequences on Palestinian existence, why does it still allow goods from settlements to be sold in stores and shops in Britain? If the British leader is serious about recognition of Palestine as a state, how can he permit the Israeli government to breach its independence with such aggressive methods? Or was the acknowledgment an hollow tactic to shut down opposition in the UK, a meaningless act only to be implemented in the relabeling of some maps?

Pathway to Genuine Resolution

A just resolution must honor the basic rights of the Palestinian population for self-determination, sovereignty, and liberty from military occupation and blockade. Only when each person's dignity between the river and sea is respected can we truly declare peace has been achieved.

Genuine resolution requires an independent Palestinian nation next to the Israeli state: this is the only solution that enjoises consensus among the international community, the Palestinian national movement, and the Israeli peace advocates.

Trump may have inflicted influence on Netanyahu to halt the violence, but he probably only did so because the burden of his connection with the isolated government of the Israeli PM had become too great. The mass protests throughout the globe for the liberation of Palestine, and the persistent opposition demonstrations within the country, are the real factors behind this pressure.

It is thanks to this enormous civil movement that a ceasefire has been signed, the hostages released, and the residents of the territory can experience protection from destruction. Following the ceasefire agreement has been finalized, it is crucial to continue applying this influence. The world has turned a blind eye to the atrocities in Gaza for many years; it must not repeat the same error in the West Bank.