While Global Focus Stays on Gaza, Israel's Colonists in the Occupied Territories Continue Operating Without Consequences

Last week, during a combined speech by American leader Donald Trump and Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli parliament, colleague lawmaker Ayman Odeh and I raised a banner calling for the recognition of Palestine. We were forcibly removed from the parliamentary session, revealing the fragile condition of what's often portrayed as the "only democracy in the region". How can leaders talk about Middle East peace while declining to recognize a population deprived of fundamental liberties and rights under long-standing military control?

The Situation in the West Bank

Nowhere is the deceit more apparent than in the controlled West Bank. There, words of peace sound remote and faint, while the frightening sounds of settler violence and terror persist strongly. 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, featuring physical assaults, theft of crops, and torching of cars and property.

Systematic Violence During Harvest Season

The rise in violence by colonists is not coincidental. This period marks the start of agricultural harvesting. More than a vital economic activity, it constitutes an important social and cultural occasion that shows resilience under occupation. Exactly for these causes, year after year colonists target Palestinians during this crucial period. During the 2024 harvest season, rights groups recorded 113 separate incidents of violence, intimidation, preventing harvesting, or destruction to olive groves and produce involving settlers and military personnel, which occurred on territories owned by 51 Palestinian villages, towns, and areas.

Israeli security forces appeared to have had a larger role in hindering the harvesting season

Yesh Din also found that "Israeli military seemed to have played a larger role in obstructing the olive harvest". In approximately 70% of instances where entry to lands was forcibly prevented, soldiers, border police officers, and settler security officials were actually on site. They either directly stopped Palestinian farmers from reaching and gathering their own lands, or neglected to stop colonists who threatened or attacked them.

Political Backing for Colonization

This is no shock, as the leader of the colonists' political movement, Bezalel Smotrich, was appointed as an extra official in the Ministry of Defence in charge of the territorial coordination unit. In one village, for example, a particular military coordination team removed private olive trees of local residents, claiming lack of permits, but ignored infractions by an unauthorized adjacent colonist encampment. Last week, the Jerusalem district court decided to stop all building work in the encampment, which was constructed on lands seized by Israeli authorities and illegally transferred to settlers.

Annexation Ambitions and International Response

In the controlled West Bank, colonist violence is nothing but a tool used by the administration to achieve de-facto annexation. Earlier this month, Smotrich headed a procession of thousands of settlers in support of taking over the West Bank. He was quoted as stating, "We persist to establish presence with our feet of the territory with many settlers, numerous heroes, and countless of colonists who reside in this part of the territory ... we must to normalize it and make it eternal."

The colonists and their supporters in the parliament are clear about their intentions and intentions. Why, then, do political leaders in the Western nations refrain from substantial penalties and diplomatic measures? Smotrich was sanctioned by the UK in the summer, but the effect of the sanction has been limited. He may not be permitted to travel to the UK and tour the London's entertainment district, but he still maintains the governmental authority to seize lands in the West Bank. Even in the declaration of sanctions, the British government emphasized they apply "in his personal capacity" only.

Global Recognition and Actual Situation

If the British administration recognizes the reality of colonist aggression and its serious implications on Palestinian existence, why does it still permit settlement produce to be marketed in stores and shops in Britain? If the British leader is genuine about acknowledging Palestinian statehood as a state, how come he allow the Israeli government to violate its independence with such violent means? Or was the acknowledgment an hollow ploy to silence opposition in the UK, a meaningless act only to be implemented in the rebranding of some maps?

Pathway to Genuine Resolution

A fair resolution must respect the basic entitlements of the Palestinian population for self-recognition, independence, and liberty from military occupation and blockade. Only when every human being's worth across the river and sea is respected can we genuinely say reconciliation has been attained.

True peace demands an independent Palestinian nation alongside the Israeli state: this is the sole solution that enjoises agreement among the international community, the Palestinian leadership, and the Israeli peace advocates.

Trump may have inflicted pressure on the Israeli leader to stop the genocide, but he probably only did so because the strain of his relationship with the pariah regime of Netanyahu had become too great. The large demonstrations across the world for the liberation of Palestinian territories, and the persistent anti-government demonstrations inside the country, are the actual forces behind this pressure.

It is thanks to this enormous public campaign that a ceasefire has been signed, the captives released, and the people of the territory can experience protection from annihilation. Following the ceasefire agreement has been finalized, it is crucial to keep maintaining this pressure. The international community has turned a blind eye to the violence in the strip for too long; it must not make the same error in the occupied territories.