🔗 Share this article

Last week, during a joint address by American leader Donald Trump and Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli parliament, fellow lawmaker Ayman Odeh and I raised a sign urging the acknowledgment of Palestine. We were violently removed from the legislative assembly, exposing the fragile condition of what's frequently described as the "sole democratic state in the Middle East". How can leaders talk about regional peace while refusing to acknowledge a population denied of fundamental liberties and rights under decades-long occupation?

The Situation in the Occupied West Bank

In no place is the deceit more evident than in the occupied West Bank. There, words of peace seem remote and weak, while the terrifying echoes of settler violence and intimidation continue loudly. More than 30 incidents of settler aggression against Palestinian civilians have been recorded since the announcement of the Trump administration's 20-point plan in late September, including physical assaults, theft of crops, and torching of vehicles and property.

Targeted Aggression During Agricultural Period

The rise in settler terrorism is deliberate. This time signals the beginning of harvest seasons. Beyond a vital economic activity, it constitutes an important communal and national occasion that demonstrates resilience under military rule. Exactly for these reasons, annually settlers attack Palestinians throughout this precious time. During the last year's agricultural period, rights groups documented 113 separate incidents of violence, intimidation, harvest-thwarting, or damage to olive trees and produce involving Israeli civilians and soldiers, which took place on territories owned by 51 Palestinian villages, municipalities, and communities.

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

The human rights group also found that "Israel's security forces appeared to have had a larger part in obstructing the olive harvest". In about 70% of instances where access to lands was forcibly blocked, troops, border police officers, and settlement civilian security coordinators were physically on site. They either directly stopped Palestinians from reaching and gathering their own lands, or neglected to stop settlers who harassed or attacked them.

Political Backing for Settler Activities

This is no shock, as the leader of the colonists' political movement, Bezalel Smotrich, was appointed as an additional minister in the Defense Ministry responsible for the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. In one village, for instance, a particular military coordination team uprooted personally-owned olive trees of Palestinians, claiming missing documentation, but overlooked infractions by an illegal nearby colonist encampment. Last week, the Jerusalem district court decided to halt all building work in the outpost, which was constructed on lands seized by Israeli authorities and unlawfully transferred to colonists.

Takeover Goals and International Reaction

In the occupied West Bank, settler terrorism is nothing but a instrument used by the administration to pursue practical annexation. Recently, Smotrich headed a procession of thousands of colonists in support of taking over the West Bank. He was quoted as saying, "We are continuing to take hold with our presence of the Land of Israel with numerous pioneers, numerous champions, and countless of settlers who reside in this part of the territory ... we must to normalize it and establish it permanently."

The settlers and their backers in the Knesset are explicit about their motives and intentions. Why, then, do government officials in the Western nations hesitate from substantial penalties and political actions? Smotrich was sanctioned by the United Kingdom in June, but the impact of the sanction has been minimal. He may not be able to go to the United Kingdom and visit the West End, but he still maintains the ministerial power to seize lands in the West Bank. Even in the declaration of sanctions, the UK highlighted they take place "personally" solely.

Global Acknowledgment and Reality

If the UK government acknowledges the reality of settler violence and its grave implications on Palestinian life, why does it still permit goods from settlements to be marketed in markets and shops in Britain? If Starmer is genuine about recognition of Palestine as a sovereign entity, how come he permit the Israeli administration to violate its sovereignty with such aggressive methods? Or was the recognition an hollow ploy to silence opposition in the UK, a meaningless act only to be realised in the rebranding of some cartographic representations?

Route Toward Genuine Peace

A fair peace must honor the basic entitlements of the Palestinian population for self-determination, sovereignty, and liberty from military occupation and blockade. Only when each person's worth between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea is respected can we genuinely declare reconciliation has been achieved.

True peace requires an sovereign Palestinian nation next to the Israeli state: this is the only formula that enjoises consensus among the global community, the Palestinian national movement, and the Israeli peace advocates.

Trump may have applied influence on the Israeli leader 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 mass protests across the world for the liberation of Palestine, and the unwavering opposition demonstrations inside Israel, are the actual factors behind this influence.

It is thanks to this massive public campaign that a truce has been agreed, the captives freed, and the people of Gaza can experience safeguard from annihilation. After the truce arrangement has been finalized, it is crucial to continue applying this influence. The international community has turned a blind eye to the violence in Gaza for many years; it must not make the same error in the occupied territories.