While Global Attention Remains on the Gaza Strip, Israel's Settlers in the West Bank Persist Operating With Impunity

Last week, during a joint address by American leader Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Knesset, colleague lawmaker Ayman Odeh and I raised a sign calling for the recognition of Palestine. We were forcibly removed from the legislative assembly, exposing the fragile state of what's frequently described as the "sole democracy in the Middle East". How can officials speak about regional peace while declining to recognize a population denied of basic liberties and entitlements under decades-long occupation?

The Reality in the West Bank

In no place is the hypocrisy more apparent than in the occupied West Bank. There, talk of peace sound remote and faint, while the terrifying sounds of colonist attacks and terror continue loudly. More than 30 incidents of settler aggression against Palestinian civilians have been documented since the announcement of the US 20-point plan in September's end, featuring attacks, theft of agricultural produce, and burning of vehicles and property.

Targeted Aggression During Agricultural Period

The increase in violence by colonists is not coincidental. This period marks the beginning of agricultural harvesting. Beyond a vital economic event, it constitutes an important social and cultural occasion that demonstrates resilience under military rule. Exactly for these causes, year after year colonists target Palestinian farmers throughout this precious time. During the 2024 harvest season, rights groups documented 113 separate cases of violence, harassment, preventing harvesting, or damage to olive trees and crops by settlers and military personnel, which took place on territories belonging to 51 Palestinian communities, municipalities, and areas.

Israeli military appeared to have played a larger role in obstructing the harvesting season

The human rights group also found that "Israel's military appeared to have had a greater role in hindering the harvesting season". In approximately 70% of cases where entry to lands was forcibly prevented, troops, border police officers, and settler security officials were actually on site. They either personally prevented Palestinian farmers from accessing and gathering their property, or neglected to prevent colonists who threatened or attacked them.

Political Support for Colonization

This comes as no shock, as the head of the settlers' political party, Bezalel Smotrich, was appointed as an additional official in the Defense Ministry responsible for the territorial coordination unit. In Umm al-Khair, for instance, a special military coordination team removed personally-owned olive trees of Palestinians, citing missing documentation, but ignored violations by an unauthorized nearby settler outpost. Last week, the local court decided to stop all building work in the encampment, which was built on lands seized by Israeli authorities and unlawfully given to settlers.

Annexation Goals and International Response

In the controlled West Bank, settler terrorism is simply a tool used by the administration to achieve practical annexation. Earlier this month, Smotrich led a march of thousands of colonists in favor of annexation the West Bank. He was reported as stating, "We persist to establish presence with our presence of the Land of Israel with many pioneers, numerous champions, and hundreds of thousands of settlers who reside in this part of the territory ... we need to normalize it and make it eternal."

The settlers and their backers in the parliament are explicit about their motives and intentions. Why, then, do political leaders in the Western nations hesitate from substantial sanctions and political actions? Smotrich was penalized by the United Kingdom in the summer, but the effect of the sanction has been minimal. He may not be able to go to the UK and visit the West End, but he still maintains the ministerial power to seize lands in the West Bank. Remarkably in the announcement of penalties, the UK highlighted they take place "personally" only.

International Acknowledgment and Reality

If the British administration recognizes the reality of settler violence and its serious consequences on Palestinian existence, why does it still permit goods from settlements to be marketed in markets and outlets in Britain? If the British leader is serious about acknowledging Palestinian statehood as a sovereign entity, how come he permit the Israeli administration to violate its sovereignty with such violent means? Or was the acknowledgment an hollow tactic to silence opposition in the UK, a meaningless act only to be implemented in the relabeling of some cartographic representations?

Pathway to True Peace

A just peace must honor the fundamental rights of the Palestinian population for self-determination, sovereignty, and liberty from occupation and blockade. Only when each human being's worth across the river and Mediterranean Sea is honored can we genuinely say reconciliation has been achieved.

Genuine resolution demands an sovereign Palestinian nation next to Israel: this is the sole formula that enjoises agreement among the international community, the Palestinian national movement, and the Israeli peace camp.

Trump may have applied pressure on the Israeli leader to halt the genocide, but he likely only did so because the strain of his relationship with the isolated government of the Israeli PM had become excessive. The large demonstrations across the globe for the freedom of Palestinian territories, and the unwavering opposition demonstrations inside Israel, are the actual forces behind this influence.

It is due to this enormous public campaign that a ceasefire has been agreed, the captives released, and the residents of Gaza can experience safeguard from destruction. Following the truce arrangement has been signed, it is vital to continue applying this pressure. The international community has turned a blind eye to the atrocities in the strip for many years; it must not make the same mistake in the West Bank.