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Last Monday, amid a joint address by American leader Donald Trump and Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu at the Knesset, fellow lawmaker Ayman Odeh and I displayed a sign urging the recognition of the Palestinian state. We were forcibly ejected from the legislative assembly, revealing the weak condition of what's frequently portrayed as the "only democracy in the Middle East". How can leaders speak about Middle East peace while declining to recognize a people deprived of basic liberties and rights under long-standing military control?

The Situation in the Occupied West Bank

In no place is the deceit more apparent than in the controlled West Bank. There, talk of reconciliation sound distant and weak, while the frightening echoes of colonist attacks and intimidation continue loudly. Over 30 incidents of settler aggression against Palestinians have been recorded since the announcement of the US peace proposal in September's end, featuring physical assaults, theft of crops, and torching of cars and belongings.

Systematic Aggression During Agricultural Period

The rise in settler terrorism is not coincidental. This time signals the beginning of agricultural harvesting. More than a crucial economic activity, it constitutes an significant social and national moment that shows endurance under military rule. Exactly for these reasons, annually settlers target Palestinian farmers throughout this precious time. During the last year's agricultural season, human rights organizations recorded 113 distinct cases of aggression, harassment, preventing harvesting, or destruction to olive groves and produce involving settlers and soldiers, which occurred on territories owned by 51 Palestinian communities, municipalities, and communities.

Israeli military appeared to have played a greater role in hindering the olive harvest

Yesh Din also discovered that "Israel's military appeared to have had a larger role in hindering the olive harvest". In approximately 70% of instances where entry to farmland was violently prevented, troops, border police officers, and settlement security officials were actually present. They either personally prevented Palestinian farmers from reaching and harvesting their property, or failed to stop settlers who harassed or assaulted them.

Political Support for Colonization

This is no shock, as the head of the settlers' political party, Bezalel Smotrich, was appointed as an additional minister in the Defense Ministry in charge of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. In one village, for example, a special military coordination team uprooted private olive plants of Palestinians, citing lack of permits, but overlooked violations by an illegal nearby colonist encampment. 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 unlawfully transferred to colonists.

Annexation Ambitions and Global Response

In the occupied West Bank, colonist violence is nothing but a instrument used by the government to achieve de-facto incorporation. Recently, Smotrich led a march of many of colonists in support of annexation the West Bank. He was reported as stating, "We persist to establish presence with our feet of the Land of Israel with numerous settlers, numerous champions, and hundreds of thousands of settlers who reside in this part of the land ... we must to normalize it and make it eternal."

The colonists and their supporters in the Knesset are explicit about their motives and goals. Why, then, do political leaders in the Western nations refrain from meaningful sanctions and diplomatic measures? Smotrich was sanctioned by the United Kingdom in June, but the effect of the penalty has been minimal. He may not be able to go to the UK and visit the London's entertainment district, but he still enjoys the governmental authority to seize territories in the West Bank. Even in the declaration of penalties, the British government emphasized they apply "in his personal capacity" solely.

Global Recognition and Actual Situation

If the British administration acknowledges the reality of settler violence and its grave consequences on Palestinian life, why does it still permit settlement produce to be marketed in stores and shops in the UK? If the British leader is serious about recognition of Palestine as a sovereign entity, how can he permit the Israeli government to violate its sovereignty with such aggressive methods? Or was the recognition an empty tactic to silence dissenting voices in the UK, a meaningless act only to be implemented in the relabeling of some cartographic representations?

Route Toward Genuine Peace

A just peace must respect the basic entitlements of the Palestinian people for self-determination, sovereignty, and liberty from military occupation and blockade. Only when each human being's worth between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea is respected can we genuinely declare peace has been attained.

True peace requires an sovereign Palestinian state next to Israel: this is the sole solution that has consensus among the international community, the Palestinian national movement, and the Israeli peace advocates.

Trump may have applied influence on the Israeli leader to halt the violence, but he probably only did so because the burden of his relationship with the pariah regime of Netanyahu had become excessive. The mass protests across the world for the liberation of Palestinian territories, and the persistent anti-government demonstrations within Israel, are the actual forces behind this influence.

It is due to this enormous public campaign that a truce has been signed, the hostages released, and the people of Gaza can experience protection from annihilation. After the ceasefire agreement has been finalized, it is crucial to keep applying this pressure. The world has turned a blind eye to the atrocities in the strip for many years; it must not make the same mistake in the occupied territories.