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Last week, amid a combined speech by US President Donald Trump and Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli parliament, colleague lawmaker Ayman Odeh and I raised a sign calling for the recognition of Palestine. We were forcibly removed from the parliamentary assembly, revealing the fragile condition of what's often described as the "only democracy in the region". How can leaders talk about Middle East peace while refusing to recognize a population deprived of fundamental freedoms and rights under decades-long military control?

The Situation in the Occupied West Bank

In no place is the hypocrisy more apparent than in the occupied West Bank. There, talk of reconciliation seem distant and weak, while the terrifying sounds of settler violence and terror persist loudly. More than 30 occurrences of settler aggression against Palestinian civilians have been documented since the announcement of the Trump administration's peace proposal in September's end, featuring physical assaults, theft of crops, and torching of cars and property.

Targeted Aggression During Harvest Season

The increase in settler terrorism is not coincidental. This time signals the beginning of harvest seasons. More than a vital economic activity, it constitutes an significant communal and national occasion that demonstrates resilience under military rule. Precisely for these causes, annually colonists attack Palestinians 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 trees and crops involving Israeli civilians and soldiers, which occurred on territories belonging to 51 Palestinian villages, municipalities, and areas.

Israeli security forces appeared to have had a greater part in hindering the olive harvest

The human rights group also discovered that "Israeli military appeared to have had a larger part in hindering the harvesting season". In about 70% of cases where entry to lands was forcibly blocked, soldiers, border guards, and settlement security officials were physically present. They either personally stopped Palestinian farmers from reaching and gathering their own lands, or failed to stop colonists who threatened or attacked them.

Political Support for Settler Activities

This comes as 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 Umm al-Khair, for instance, a particular COGAT unit uprooted personally-owned olive plants of Palestinians, citing missing documentation, but overlooked infractions by an illegal adjacent colonist encampment. Last week, the local court ruled to halt all construction in the encampment, which was built on property taken by Israel and illegally transferred to colonists.

Takeover Goals and International Response

In the occupied West Bank, colonist violence is nothing but a instrument used by the government to pursue de-facto incorporation. Earlier this month, Smotrich led a march of thousands of settlers in support of annexation the West Bank. He was reported as stating, "We persist to take hold with our feet of the territory with numerous settlers, numerous champions, and hundreds of thousands of settlers who live in this part of the territory ... we need to normalise it and make it eternal."

The settlers and their supporters in the Knesset are explicit about their intentions and goals. Why, then, do government officials in the west hesitate from meaningful penalties and diplomatic measures? Smotrich was sanctioned by the UK in the summer, but the impact of the penalty 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 territories in the West Bank. Remarkably in the announcement of penalties, the British government emphasized they take place "personally" only.

Global Acknowledgment and Reality

If the British administration recognizes the truth of colonist aggression and its serious consequences on Palestinian existence, why does it still allow settlement produce to be sold in stores and outlets in the UK? If the British leader is genuine about acknowledging Palestinian statehood as a state, how come he permit the Israeli government to breach its independence with such aggressive methods? Or was the acknowledgment an empty tactic to silence dissenting voices in the United Kingdom, a hollow gesture only to be implemented in the rebranding of some maps?

Route Toward Genuine Peace

A just peace must honor the fundamental entitlements of the Palestinian people for self-determination, sovereignty, and freedom from military occupation and siege. Only when each person's worth across the river and Mediterranean Sea is honored can we truly declare reconciliation has been achieved.

Genuine resolution requires an sovereign Palestinian state next to the Israeli state: this is the only solution that has agreement among the international community, the Palestinian national movement, and the Israeli peace camp.

Trump may have inflicted influence on Netanyahu to halt the genocide, but he likely only did so because the burden of his connection with the pariah regime of Netanyahu had become too great. The large demonstrations across the globe for the freedom of Palestinian territories, and the persistent anti-government protests within Israel, are the real forces behind this pressure.

It is due to this massive civil movement that a ceasefire has been agreed, the captives freed, and the people of Gaza can enjoy safeguard from destruction. After the truce arrangement has been signed, it is vital to continue maintaining this influence. The international community has turned a blind eye to the atrocities in the strip for many years; it must not make the same mistake in the West Bank.