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Last Monday, amid a joint address by US President Donald Trump and Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli parliament, colleague parliamentarian Ayman Odeh and I displayed a banner calling for the acknowledgment of the Palestinian state. We were violently ejected from the legislative session, exposing the weak condition of what's frequently portrayed as the "only democratic state in the region". How can officials talk about regional peace while declining to recognize a people deprived of fundamental freedoms and rights under decades-long occupation?

The Situation in the West Bank

Nowhere is the deceit more evident than in the controlled West Bank. There, words of peace sound distant and faint, while the terrifying sounds of colonist attacks and intimidation persist loudly. Over 30 occurrences of violence by settlers against Palestinians have been recorded since the announcement of the US 20-point plan in September's end, including physical assaults, theft of agricultural produce, and burning of cars and property.

Targeted Violence During Agricultural Period

The increase in settler terrorism is deliberate. This period signals the beginning of agricultural harvesting. Beyond a crucial economic event, it constitutes an significant communal and national occasion that shows endurance under military rule. Exactly for these reasons, year after year colonists attack Palestinian farmers during this precious period. During the last year's agricultural season, rights groups recorded 113 separate cases of violence, intimidation, preventing harvesting, or destruction to olive groves and produce by settlers and soldiers, which occurred on territories belonging to 51 Palestinian villages, municipalities, and communities.

Israel's military appeared to have played a larger role in hindering the harvesting season

Yesh Din also found that "Israeli security forces appeared to have had a larger role in obstructing the harvesting season". In approximately 70% of cases where entry to farmland was forcibly prevented, soldiers, border guards, and settlement security officials were physically present. They either directly stopped Palestinians from accessing and harvesting their own lands, or neglected to prevent colonists who threatened or attacked them.

Government Support for Colonization

This is no shock, as the leader of the settlers' political party, Bezalel Smotrich, was named as an additional minister in the Defense Ministry responsible for the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. In one village, for instance, a special military coordination team uprooted private olive trees of local residents, citing lack of permits, but overlooked infractions by an illegal nearby settler outpost. Last week, the Jerusalem district court decided to halt all building work in the encampment, which was constructed on lands seized by Israeli authorities and illegally transferred to colonists.

Takeover Ambitions and International Response

In the controlled West Bank, settler terrorism is simply a instrument used by the government to achieve de-facto incorporation. Earlier this month, Smotrich headed a procession of many of colonists in support of annexation the West Bank. He was reported as stating, "We persist to take hold with our presence of the territory with numerous pioneers, numerous champions, and hundreds of thousands of settlers who live in this area of the territory ... we must to normalize it and establish it permanently."

The colonists and their supporters in the Knesset are clear about their intentions and intentions. Why, then, do political leaders in the west refrain from meaningful sanctions and diplomatic measures? Smotrich was sanctioned by the UK in the summer, but the impact of the penalty has been limited. He may not be permitted to travel to the United Kingdom and tour the London's entertainment district, but he still maintains the governmental authority to seize territories in the West Bank. Remarkably in the declaration of sanctions, the UK highlighted they take place "personally" solely.

International Recognition and Actual Situation

If the British administration acknowledges the reality of settler violence and its serious implications on Palestinian existence, why does it still allow goods from settlements to be marketed in stores and shops in the UK? If the British leader is serious about acknowledging Palestinian statehood as a state, how can he allow the Israeli administration to violate its sovereignty with such aggressive methods? Or was the recognition an empty tactic to silence opposition in the UK, a meaningless gesture only to be realised in the relabeling of some cartographic representations?

Pathway to Genuine Resolution

A fair resolution must respect the fundamental entitlements of the Palestinian people for self-determination, independence, and freedom from occupation and siege. Only when every human being's dignity between the Jordan River and sea is honored can we truly declare reconciliation has been achieved.

Genuine resolution demands an sovereign Palestinian state next to the Israeli state: this is the sole solution that enjoises consensus among the international community, the Palestinian leadership, and the Israeli peace advocates.

Trump may have inflicted pressure on Netanyahu to halt the violence, but he likely only did so because the burden of his relationship with the isolated government of Netanyahu had become too great. The large demonstrations across the globe for the liberation of Palestinian territories, and the persistent opposition demonstrations inside the country, are the real factors behind this pressure.

It is due to this massive public campaign that a truce has been agreed, the hostages freed, and the people of the territory can enjoy safeguard from destruction. After the ceasefire agreement has been signed, it is crucial to keep applying this pressure. The international community has turned a blind eye to the atrocities in the strip for too long; it must not make the same mistake in the West Bank.