Last Monday, during a joint speech by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli parliament, colleague parliamentarian Ayman Odeh and I raised a banner calling for the recognition of Palestine. We were violently removed from the legislative assembly, exposing the weak condition of what's often described as the "sole democracy in the region". How can officials talk about regional peace while refusing to acknowledge a population denied of fundamental freedoms and entitlements under long-standing occupation?
The Reality in the Occupied West Bank
Nowhere is the hypocrisy more evident than in the occupied West Bank. There, words of peace sound distant and faint, while the frightening echoes of settler violence and intimidation persist strongly. Over 30 occurrences of settler aggression against Palestinians have been documented since the unveiling of the Trump administration's 20-point plan in late September, featuring physical assaults, stealing of crops, and burning of vehicles and property.
Systematic Aggression During Harvest Season
The increase in violence by colonists is not coincidental. This period marks the beginning of agricultural harvesting. Beyond a vital economic event, it represents an significant social and national occasion that demonstrates resilience under occupation. Exactly for these reasons, year after year colonists attack Palestinians during this precious time. During the last year's agricultural season, rights groups recorded 113 distinct cases of aggression, intimidation, preventing harvesting, or destruction to olive trees and crops by Israeli civilians and military personnel, which occurred on lands owned by 51 Palestinian-owned communities, towns, and communities.
Israel's security forces seemed to have had a greater role in obstructing the olive harvest
The human rights group also found that "Israel's military seemed to have played a greater part in hindering the olive harvest". In about 70% of instances where access to farmland was forcibly blocked, soldiers, border police officers, and settlement civilian security coordinators were physically on site. They either personally stopped Palestinian farmers from accessing and gathering their property, or neglected to stop settlers who harassed or assaulted them.
Government Backing 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 responsible for the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. In Umm al-Khair, for example, a particular COGAT unit removed personally-owned olive trees of local residents, citing missing documentation, but ignored violations by an illegal adjacent settler outpost. Last week, the Jerusalem district court ruled to halt all construction in the encampment, which was built on lands seized by Israel and illegally given to colonists.
Annexation Goals and Global Reaction
In the controlled West Bank, settler terrorism is simply a instrument used by the government to achieve practical incorporation. Recently, Smotrich headed a march of many of settlers in favor of taking over the West Bank. He was reported as saying, "We persist to establish presence with our feet of the Land of Israel with numerous pioneers, numerous champions, and countless of settlers who live in this area of the land ... we must to normalize it and make it eternal."
The settlers and their backers in the Knesset are clear about their motives and goals. Why, then, do government officials in the west hesitate from substantial penalties and political actions? Smotrich was penalized by the UK in June, but the effect of the penalty has been minimal. He may not be permitted to go to the United Kingdom and visit the West End, but he still maintains the governmental authority to seize territories in the West Bank. Even in the announcement of sanctions, the UK emphasized they apply "personally" solely.
Global Acknowledgment and Actual Situation
If the UK government recognizes the reality of colonist aggression and its grave implications on Palestinian existence, why does it still permit goods from settlements to be marketed in markets and outlets in the UK? If Starmer is genuine about recognition of Palestine as a sovereign entity, how come he allow the Israeli administration to violate its sovereignty with such violent means? Or was the acknowledgment an empty ploy to shut down dissenting voices in the UK, a meaningless act only to be implemented in the rebranding of some maps?
Route Toward Genuine Resolution
A just peace must honor the basic rights of the Palestinian population for self-determination, independence, and liberty from occupation and siege. Only when each person's worth between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea is honored can we truly say peace has been attained.
Genuine resolution requires an independent Palestinian state next to the Israeli state: this is the sole formula that has consensus among the international community, the Palestinian national movement, and the Israeli peace camp.
The former US president may have applied pressure on the Israeli leader to stop the violence, but he probably only did so because the strain of his relationship with the isolated government of Netanyahu had become excessive. The large demonstrations throughout the globe for the liberation of Palestinian territories, and the unwavering opposition demonstrations inside the country, are the real forces behind this pressure.
It is due to this massive public campaign that a truce has been signed, the captives released, and the residents of the territory can experience safeguard from annihilation. After the truce arrangement has been signed, it is vital to keep maintaining this pressure. The world has turned a blind eye to the atrocities in the strip for too long; it must not repeat the same mistake in the occupied territories.
