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Last week, during a joint address by US President Donald Trump and Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli parliament, colleague lawmaker Ayman Odeh and I displayed a banner urging the acknowledgment of Palestine. We were forcibly ejected from the parliamentary assembly, exposing the weak state of what's frequently described as the "only democracy in the Middle East". How can officials talk about regional peace while declining to acknowledge a population deprived of basic liberties and rights under long-standing occupation?

The Reality in the Occupied West Bank

In no place is the hypocrisy more apparent than in the controlled West Bank. There, words of reconciliation sound remote and weak, while the frightening sounds of settler violence and terror persist strongly. Over 30 incidents of settler aggression against Palestinian civilians have been recorded since the announcement of the Trump administration's peace proposal in late September, including physical assaults, stealing of agricultural produce, and torching of vehicles and property.

Systematic Aggression During Agricultural Period

The increase in settler terrorism is deliberate. This period marks the beginning of harvest seasons. Beyond a crucial economic event, it constitutes an significant social and cultural moment that demonstrates endurance under military rule. Exactly for these causes, annually settlers attack Palestinians during this crucial period. During the last year's agricultural season, rights groups documented 113 separate incidents of violence, intimidation, harvest-thwarting, or damage to olive groves and produce by settlers and soldiers, which occurred on lands belonging to 51 Palestinian communities, municipalities, and areas.

Israel's security forces appeared to have had a larger role in hindering the harvesting season

The human rights group also found that "Israel's security forces appeared to have played a larger role in hindering the harvesting season". In about 70% of instances where access to lands was forcibly blocked, troops, border police officers, and settler security officials were actually present. They either personally prevented Palestinians from reaching and gathering their own lands, or failed to prevent colonists who harassed or attacked them.

Political Backing for Settler Activities

This comes as no shock, as the head of the colonists' political movement, Bezalel Smotrich, was named as an extra official in the Defense Ministry in charge of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. In Umm al-Khair, for instance, a particular COGAT unit removed private olive trees of local residents, claiming missing documentation, but ignored infractions by an illegal nearby settler outpost. Last week, the Jerusalem district court decided to stop all building work in the outpost, which was built on property taken by Israeli authorities and illegally transferred to settlers.

Annexation Goals and International Reaction

In the controlled West Bank, settler terrorism is nothing but a tool used by the administration to pursue de-facto incorporation. Earlier this month, Smotrich headed a procession of many of settlers in support of taking over the West Bank. He was reported as stating, "We are continuing to take hold with our presence of the territory with many settlers, numerous heroes, and hundreds of thousands of settlers who reside in this part of the land ... we need to normalise it and make it eternal."

The settlers and their supporters in the parliament are explicit about their intentions and intentions. Why, then, do government officials in the Western nations hesitate from meaningful penalties and political actions? Smotrich was penalized by the United Kingdom in June, but the effect of the sanction has been minimal. He may not be permitted to travel to the United Kingdom and tour the London's entertainment district, but he still maintains the ministerial power to take lands in the West Bank. Even in the declaration of penalties, the British government highlighted they take place "in his personal capacity" solely.

Global Acknowledgment and Reality

If the British administration acknowledges the truth of colonist aggression and its serious consequences on Palestinian life, why does it still allow settlement produce to be sold in markets and outlets in Britain? If the British leader is genuine about recognition of Palestine as a sovereign entity, how come he permit the Israeli government to violate its sovereignty with such violent means? Or was the recognition an empty ploy to shut down dissenting voices in the UK, a hollow gesture only to be realised in the rebranding of some cartographic representations?

Route Toward True Resolution

A just resolution must honor the fundamental entitlements of the Palestinian people for self-determination, sovereignty, and freedom from military occupation and blockade. Only when each person's dignity between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea is honored can we truly declare reconciliation has been achieved.

True resolution requires an sovereign Palestinian state next to the Israeli state: this is the only formula that has consensus among the international community, the Palestinian leadership, and the Israeli peace advocates.

Trump may have inflicted influence on Netanyahu to stop the genocide, but he likely only did so because the burden of his relationship with the isolated government of the Israeli PM had become too great. The mass protests throughout the globe for the liberation of Palestinian territories, and the persistent anti-government demonstrations inside the country, are the actual factors behind this pressure.

It is thanks to this enormous civil movement that a truce has been agreed, the hostages freed, and the residents of Gaza can experience safeguard from destruction. Following the ceasefire agreement has been signed, it is crucial to keep maintaining this pressure. The international community has turned a blind eye to the atrocities in Gaza for too long; it must not make the same mistake in the occupied territories.