🔗 Share this article

Last week, amid a joint speech by American leader Donald Trump and Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu at the Knesset, fellow lawmaker Ayman Odeh and I raised a sign urging the acknowledgment of Palestine. We were violently removed from the legislative session, exposing the weak condition of what's frequently portrayed as the "only democracy in the Middle East". How can leaders speak about regional peace while refusing to acknowledge a people deprived of fundamental freedoms and rights under decades-long occupation?

The Situation in the West Bank

In no place is the deceit more evident than in the controlled West Bank. There, talk of reconciliation seem distant and weak, while the terrifying sounds of settler violence and terror persist strongly. Over 30 occurrences of violence by settlers against Palestinians have been documented since the announcement of the US peace proposal in late September, including attacks, stealing of crops, and torching of cars and property.

Targeted Violence During Harvest Season

The increase in violence by colonists is not coincidental. This period signals the start of agricultural harvesting. Beyond a vital economic activity, it constitutes an significant social and cultural moment that shows resilience under military rule. Exactly for these reasons, annually colonists target Palestinians during this precious time. During the last year's agricultural season, rights groups documented 113 separate cases of aggression, harassment, preventing harvesting, or damage to olive trees and produce by settlers and military personnel, which took place on lands belonging to 51 Palestinian communities, municipalities, and areas.

Israel's military appeared to have played a greater part in hindering the harvesting season

Yesh Din also found that "Israeli military seemed to have had a larger part in obstructing the olive harvest". In about 70% of instances where access to farmland was forcibly blocked, troops, border police officers, and settler security officials were actually present. They either directly prevented Palestinian farmers from reaching and gathering their own lands, or failed to prevent settlers who threatened or assaulted them.

Government Support for Settler Activities

This is no surprise, as the leader 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 one village, for example, a particular military coordination team uprooted private olive plants of local residents, claiming missing documentation, but ignored infractions by an unauthorized nearby colonist encampment. Last week, the local court ruled to stop all building work in the encampment, which was constructed on property seized by Israeli authorities and unlawfully given to settlers.

Annexation Goals and Global Response

In the controlled West Bank, settler terrorism is nothing but a tool used by the government to achieve de-facto incorporation. Earlier this month, Smotrich headed a procession of many of colonists in favor of taking over the West Bank. He was reported as stating, "We are continuing to take hold with our feet of the territory with numerous settlers, many heroes, and hundreds of thousands of colonists who live in this area of the land ... we must to normalize it and establish it permanently."

The colonists and their supporters in the Knesset are clear about their motives and intentions. Why, then, do government officials in the Western nations refrain from meaningful sanctions and political actions? Smotrich was penalized by the UK in the summer, but the impact of the penalty has been limited. He may not be able to travel to the United Kingdom and tour the West End, but he still maintains the governmental authority to seize territories in the West Bank. Remarkably in the announcement of sanctions, the British government highlighted they take place "personally" solely.

Global Acknowledgment and Reality

If the British administration recognizes the reality of colonist aggression and its grave consequences on Palestinian existence, why does it still permit goods from settlements to be sold in markets and outlets in the UK? If Starmer is serious about acknowledging Palestinian statehood as a sovereign entity, how come he permit the Israeli government to violate its sovereignty with such violent means? Or was the acknowledgment an hollow tactic to silence opposition in the United Kingdom, a hollow gesture only to be implemented in the relabeling of some maps?

Route Toward Genuine Resolution

A fair resolution must honor the fundamental entitlements of the Palestinian population for self-determination, independence, and liberty from occupation and blockade. Only when each human being's worth across the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea is honored can we truly declare peace has been attained.

True resolution requires an sovereign Palestinian state alongside the Israeli state: this is the sole formula that enjoises agreement among the global community, the Palestinian national movement, and the Israeli peace camp.

The former US president may have inflicted influence on the Israeli leader to halt the violence, but he probably only did so because the burden of his connection with the isolated government of Netanyahu had become excessive. The mass protests across the world for the freedom of Palestine, and the unwavering opposition protests inside Israel, are the real forces behind this pressure.

It is thanks to this enormous civil movement that a truce has been signed, the hostages released, and the residents of Gaza can experience protection from annihilation. After the ceasefire agreement has been finalized, 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 occupied territories.