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Last week, amid a combined address by US President Donald Trump and Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli parliament, fellow parliamentarian Ayman Odeh and I displayed a sign calling for the recognition of Palestine. We were forcibly ejected from the parliamentary assembly, revealing the weak condition of what's often portrayed as the "only democratic state in the region". How can officials speak about Middle East peace while refusing to acknowledge a people denied of basic liberties and entitlements under long-standing military control?

The Reality in the West Bank

In no place is the deceit more evident than in the controlled West Bank. There, words of peace sound distant and faint, while the terrifying echoes of settler violence and intimidation continue strongly. Over 30 occurrences of violence by settlers against Palestinian civilians have been documented since the unveiling of the US peace proposal in September's end, including attacks, theft of agricultural produce, and torching of cars and property.

Systematic Aggression During Agricultural Period

The increase in violence by colonists is deliberate. This time signals the beginning of agricultural harvesting. More than a crucial economic event, it represents an important communal and national occasion that demonstrates endurance under military rule. Exactly for these causes, year after year settlers target Palestinians throughout this crucial period. During the last year's agricultural period, human rights organizations documented 113 distinct cases of aggression, intimidation, preventing harvesting, or destruction to olive trees and produce by Israeli civilians and soldiers, which occurred on territories owned by 51 Palestinian-owned communities, towns, and communities.

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

The human rights group also found that "Israel's security forces appeared to have played a greater role in hindering the harvesting season". In about 70% of cases where access to lands was violently prevented, troops, border guards, and settlement security officials were actually present. They either personally stopped Palestinian farmers from accessing and harvesting their property, or failed to stop colonists who harassed or assaulted them.

Government Support for Settler Activities

This comes as no surprise, as the leader of the colonists' political movement, Bezalel Smotrich, was appointed as an extra minister in the Defense Ministry in charge of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. In one village, for example, a particular COGAT unit uprooted personally-owned olive plants of local residents, citing lack of permits, but ignored violations by an unauthorized adjacent colonist encampment. Last week, the Jerusalem district court decided to halt all building work in the outpost, which was built on property taken by Israeli authorities and unlawfully given to colonists.

Takeover Goals and Global Reaction

In the controlled West Bank, colonist violence is nothing but a instrument used by the government to achieve practical annexation. Earlier this month, Smotrich led a march of thousands of colonists in favor of annexation the West Bank. He was quoted as saying, "We are continuing to establish presence with our presence of the Land of Israel with numerous settlers, many champions, and countless of colonists who live in this part of the land ... we need to normalize it and make it eternal."

The settlers and their supporters 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 penalized by the UK in the summer, but the impact of the penalty has been minimal. He may not be able to travel to the UK and visit the London's entertainment district, but he still maintains the governmental authority to seize territories in the West Bank. Remarkably in the announcement of penalties, the British government emphasized they apply "personally" solely.

Global Recognition and Actual Situation

If the British administration acknowledges the reality of settler violence and its serious consequences on Palestinian life, why does it still permit settlement produce to be sold in stores and outlets in Britain? If the British leader is genuine about recognition of Palestine as a sovereign entity, how can he allow the Israeli administration to breach its independence with such aggressive methods? Or was the acknowledgment an empty ploy to silence opposition in the United Kingdom, a hollow act only to be implemented in the relabeling of some maps?

Route Toward True Resolution

A fair peace must respect the basic rights of the Palestinian population for self-recognition, independence, and liberty from occupation and blockade. Only when every human being's worth between the Jordan River and sea is honored can we truly declare reconciliation has been achieved.

True peace demands an sovereign Palestinian state alongside the Israeli state: this is the only formula that has consensus among the international community, the Palestinian leadership, and the Israeli peace camp.

The former US president may have applied influence on Netanyahu to halt the violence, but he likely only did so because the strain of his relationship with the pariah regime of the Israeli PM had become too great. The mass protests throughout the world for the liberation of Palestine, and the unwavering opposition demonstrations within Israel, are the real forces behind this pressure.

It is thanks to this enormous civil movement that a truce has been signed, the captives freed, and the people of Gaza can experience safeguard from annihilation. Following the ceasefire agreement has been finalized, it is vital to keep applying this pressure. The international community has ignored to the violence in the strip for too long; it must not make the same mistake in the West Bank.