🔗 Share this article

Last Monday, amid a combined speech by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli parliament, fellow lawmaker Ayman Odeh and I raised a banner calling for the acknowledgment of Palestine. We were forcibly removed from the legislative session, revealing the fragile state of what's often described as the "sole democratic state in the Middle East". How can leaders talk about Middle East peace while refusing to recognize a people denied of fundamental freedoms and rights under long-standing military control?

The Situation in the West Bank

In no place is the deceit more evident than in the controlled West Bank. There, words of peace seem distant and weak, while the frightening echoes of settler violence and terror persist strongly. Over 30 occurrences of settler aggression against Palestinians have been recorded since the unveiling of the Trump administration's 20-point plan in late September, featuring attacks, theft of agricultural produce, and torching of vehicles and belongings.

Systematic Aggression During Harvest Season

The rise in violence by colonists is deliberate. This period signals the beginning of harvest seasons. Beyond a crucial economic event, it constitutes an important communal and cultural moment that shows endurance under military rule. Precisely for these reasons, year after year settlers target Palestinian farmers throughout this crucial period. During the 2024 harvest period, rights groups documented 113 distinct cases of violence, harassment, preventing harvesting, or damage to olive groves and crops involving Israeli civilians and soldiers, which occurred on territories belonging to 51 Palestinian communities, towns, and areas.

Israeli military appeared to have had a larger part in hindering the harvesting season

The human rights group also discovered that "Israeli security forces appeared to have played a greater part in obstructing the harvesting season". In about 70% of cases where entry to lands was violently prevented, soldiers, border police officers, and settler civilian security coordinators were physically on site. They either directly prevented Palestinians from reaching and gathering their own lands, or neglected to stop colonists who threatened or assaulted them.

Political Support for Colonization

This is no surprise, as the head of the settlers' political party, Bezalel Smotrich, was named as an additional official in the Defense Ministry in charge of the territorial coordination unit. In Umm al-Khair, for example, a special COGAT unit uprooted personally-owned olive trees of local residents, claiming missing documentation, but overlooked infractions by an unauthorized nearby colonist encampment. Last week, the local court decided to halt all building work in the encampment, which was constructed on property seized by Israel and illegally transferred to settlers.

Takeover Ambitions and International Reaction

In the controlled West Bank, colonist violence is simply a tool used by the administration to achieve practical incorporation. Earlier this month, Smotrich led a procession of thousands of colonists in favor of taking over the West Bank. He was quoted as saying, "We persist to establish presence with our feet of the territory with many settlers, many heroes, and countless of colonists who reside in this part of the territory ... we must to normalise it and establish it permanently."

The settlers and their backers in the parliament are explicit about their intentions and intentions. Why, then, do political leaders in the Western nations refrain from meaningful penalties and political actions? Smotrich was sanctioned by the United Kingdom in June, but the impact of the sanction has been limited. He may not be able to go to the UK and tour the West End, but he still enjoys the governmental authority to take territories in the West Bank. Even in the declaration of penalties, the UK highlighted they take place "personally" only.

Global Acknowledgment and Reality

If the British administration acknowledges the truth of settler violence and its grave implications on Palestinian existence, why does it still allow goods from settlements to be marketed in markets and shops in the UK? If the British leader is serious about recognition of Palestine as a state, how can he permit the Israeli administration to violate its sovereignty with such aggressive methods? Or was the acknowledgment an empty tactic to shut down opposition in the United Kingdom, a meaningless gesture 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, independence, and liberty from military occupation and siege. Only when every person's worth between the Jordan River and sea is honored can we truly declare peace has been attained.

Genuine peace demands an independent Palestinian state alongside the Israeli state: this is the only solution that enjoises agreement among the international community, the Palestinian national movement, and the Israeli peace camp.

Trump may have applied pressure on Netanyahu to stop the violence, but he likely only did so because the strain of his connection with the pariah regime of Netanyahu had become too great. The mass protests throughout the world for the freedom of Palestinian territories, and the unwavering anti-government demonstrations within Israel, are the real forces behind this pressure.

It is due to this massive public campaign that a ceasefire has been signed, the hostages released, and the people of Gaza can enjoy protection from destruction. Following 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 Gaza for too long; it must not make the same error in the West Bank.