Belgian Academics & Artists For Palestine
 

 
 

Israel Settler Colonialism :

(1) Resources (oldest first):
(2) Articles: below (latest first)
(3) Masafer Yatta (latest first)
(4) Archives: below

  • Fayez A. SAYEGH, « Zionist Colonialism in Palestine. » Palestine Monographs, 1, Research Center Palestine Liberation Organization, Beirut, September 1965, 43p., click here.
  • Patrick WOLFE, « Settler Colonialism and the Transformation of Anthropology. » The Politics and Poetics of an Ethnographic Event (Writing Past Colonialism Series, 1999, 257p., pdf), click here.
  • Patrick WOLFE, « Settler Colonialism and the Elimination of the Native » (Journal of Genocide Research, Volume 8, 2006 - Issue 4), click here.
    The question of genocide is never far from discussions of settler colonialism. Land is life - or, at least, land is necessary for life. Thus contests for land can be - indeed, often are - contests for life. Yet this is not to say that settler colonialism is simply a form of genocide. In some settler-colonial sites (one thinks, for instance, of Fiji), native society was able to accommodate - though hardly unscathed - the invaders and the transformative socioeconomic system that they introduced. Even in sites of wholesale expropriation such as Australia or North America, settler colonialism's genocidal outcomes have not manifested evenly across time or space...
  • Lorenzo VERACINI, « Israel and Settler Society » (Pluto Press, 2006, 144p.)
    Veracini presents a thoughtful interpretation of the dynamics of colonialism, offering a clear framework within which to understand the Middle East crisis. Veracini challenges two important myths: firstly, that the Israeli-Palestinian dispute is unique and defies comparative approaches; and secondly that the struggle is mainly based in nationality and religion and therefore different to typical colonial conflicts.
  • Bouda ETEMAD, « Pour une approche démographique de l'expansion coloniale de l'Europe » (Annales de démographie historique 2007/1 (n° 113), pages 13 à 32), click here.
    Les Européens d’aujourd’hui sont les descendants des plus actifs colonisateurs que le monde ait connus. Même si les habitants du continent européen ne revendiquent plus cette filiation, ils restent les héritiers d’une œuvre coloniale aux dimensions planétaires. Et même si cette œuvre n’est plus glorifiée, elle fait partie du patrimoine européen. Si le passé colonial colle à notre présent, c’est parce que la fin véritable des empires n’est vieille que de quarante ans. C’est aussi parce que le fait colonial, brutal et massif, passe pour être à l’origine de l’inégalité de notre monde, déchiré par les écarts Nord-Sud.
  • Mansour NASASRA, « The Ongoing Judaisation of the Naqab and the Struggle for Recognising the Indigenous Rights of the Arab Bedouin People » (Settler colonial studies 2, 1, 2012. Past is Present: Settler Colonialism in Palestine. ISSN 1838‐0743, pp. 81-107): click here.
    This paper argues that there is a current and renewed escalation in Israeli policies towards the indigenous Bedouin of the Naqab and Beersheba, and that this escalation emerges from two longstanding, fundamental Israeli aims: Judaising the Naqab; and putting an end to the persistent Bedouin claims to their historical land and rights. The repeated demolition of the village of Al-Araqib on July 2010 is just the latest outstanding example of the Israeli policies of Judaising the Naqab and denying Bedouin land claims and historical rights. Israel appears to be pursing an ultimate solution to the demographic concern of the Bedouin in the Naqab by bringing more settlers into the area, and expelling the majority of the Bedouin of the unrecognised villages to live in urban towns.
  • « Past is Present: Settler Colonialism in Palestine. » In: Settler Colonial Studies, Vol. 2, 2012, Issue 1 (publ. online: 28 Feb 2013, pp. 133-171), click here. "Front Matter" (4p.), by the editors: Omar Jabary Salamanca, Mezna Qato, Kareem Rabie and Sobhi Samour (4p.), click here. PS Full list of (24) contributions (with URLs per item, pdf): click here.
  • Patrick WOLFE, « Purchase by Other Means: The Palestine Nakba and Zionism’s Conquest of Economics. » In: "Past is Present: Settler Colonialism in Palestine" (pp. 133-171), click here.
  • J. Kēhaulani KAUANUI, « “A Structure, Not an Event”: Settler Colonialism and Enduring Indigeneity » (Emergent Critical Analytics for Alternative Humanities, Issue 5.1, Spring 2016, publ. in: Lateral Journal of the Cultural Studies Association), click here.
    J. Kēhaulani Kauanui discusses the distinctive shifts toward examining Patrick Wolfe’s theory of settler colonialism as ‘a structure, not an event.’ Kauanui argues that a substantive engagement with settler colonialism also demands a deep rethinking of the associated concept of indigeneity–distinct from race, ethnicity, culture, and nation(ality)–along with the field of Native American and Indigenous Studies.
  • Tariq DANA & Ali JARBAWI, « A Century of Settler Colonialism in Palestine: Zionism's Entangled Project » (Brown Journal of World Affairs, Fall/Winter 2017, Vol. XXIV, Issue 1, pp. 1-23): click here.
    Throughout the past century, the Zionist movement constructed the most ated settler-colonial project of our age: the State of Israel. The violent birth of Israel in 1948 and the subsequent colonization of the entirety of the land of Palestine after the 1967 war are indeed reflections of Zionism’s successes in fulfilling its settler-colonial ambitions in Palestine. Yet, while this settler-colonial project continues unabated, it is an entangled one, unable to reach the ultimate point of Jewish exclusivity in the land. Zionist settler colonialism, as its historical precedents suggest, is fundamentally based on the operative logic of “eliminating the native” and failing to utterly marginalize and “minoritize” him.
  • Jeff HALPER: « Decolonizing Israel, Liberating Palestine. Zionism, Settler Colonialism, and the Case for One Democratic State » Foreword by Nadia Naser-Najjab. Pluto Press, 2021, 244p.
    For decades we have spoken of the 'Israel-Palestine Conflict,' but what if our understanding of the issue has been wrong all along? This book explores how the concept of settler colonialism provides a clearer understanding of the Zionist movement's project to establish a Jewish state in Palestine, displacing the Palestinian Arab population and marginalizing its cultural presence.
  • B'TSELEM: « State Business: Israel’s misappropriation of land in the West Bank through settler violence » Full report (November 2021, pdf, 43p.): click here!
    Israel has built more than 280 settlements in the West Bank, which are home to more than 440,000 settlers. Of these settlements, 138 were officially established and recognized by the state (not including the 12 neighborhoods Israel built in the areas it annexed to Jerusalem), and some 150 are outposts not officially recognized by the state. About a third of the outposts have been built over the past decade, most of them referred to as “farms”. Summary, November 2021: click here!
  • Sai ENGLERT: « Settler Colonialism. An Introduction. » Pluto Press, September 2022, 304p. pb ISBN: 9780745344904; eBook ISBN: 9780745344980. click here!
    From the Palestinian struggle against Israeli Apartheid, to First Nations' mass campaigns against pipeline construction in North America, Indigenous peoples are at the forefront of some of the crucial struggles of our age. Rich with their unique histories, characteristics, and social relations, they are connected by the shared enemy they face: settler colonialism... In this introduction, Sai Englert highlights the ways in which it has, and continues to shape our global economic and political order. From the rapacious accumulation of resources, land, and labour, through Indigenous dispossession and genocide, to the development of racism as a form of social control, settler colonialism is deeply connected to many of the social ills we continue to face today.
  • « Israeli Apartheid: Tool of Zionist Settler Colonialism. Landmark Palestinian Coalition Report » (Al-Haq, November 30, 2022, 111p., pdf) : click here!
    Authors: Rania Muhareb, Elizabeth Rghebi, Pearce Clancy, Joseph Schechla, Nada Awad, and Maha Abdallah.
    On 29 November 2022, Al-Haq launched its inaugural coalition report titled: ‘Israeli Apartheid: Tool of Zionist Settler Colonialism’. Together leading Palestinian human rights organisations, Al-Haq, Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights (Al Mezan), the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center (JLAC), the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH), and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), explore Israel’s settler colonial and apartheid regime imposed on the Palestinian people. Importantly, the report is the first major Palestinian publication to expand the current international discourse on apartheid, and importantly, examines apartheid as a structural element of furthering Zionist settler colonialism on both sides of the Green Line.
  • "International Call to Endorse the « Landmark Palestinian Coalition Report: Israeli Apartheid: Tool of Zionist Settler Colonialism »” Al-Haq, Information Sheet (November 30, 2022). Full text, with list of the 198 organizations (pdf, 7p.): click here!
  • « One Year Report on Demolitions and Seizures in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Reporting Period: 1 January – 31 December 2022 . » Office of the European Union Representative (West Bank and Gaza Strip, UNRWA), 28 March, 2023, pdf, 12p.): click here!
    Summary: In 2022, a total of 953 structures were demolished or seized throughout the West Bank, including East Jerusalem - the highest number recorded since 2016. Of structures demolished, more than 80% (781) were located in Area C. In total, 1,031 individuals have been displaced and 28,446 affected as a result of demolitions. All but 35 of the structures were targeted for lacking building permits, which are nearly impossible for Palestinians to obtain in Area C and East Jerusalem Of the structures targeted in the twelve-month reporting period, 101 structures were funded by the EU or EU Member States (valued at EUR €337,019), representing the third highest financial injury since 2016....
  • Ofer ADERET: « Israel Poisoned Palestinian Land to Build West Bank Settlement in 1970s, Documents Reveal » (Haaretz, June 23, 2023): click here!; re-published in Jewish Voice for Labour, June 26: "The most moral army in the world…" : click here!
    A new, publicly accessible archival project shows the inner workings of the Israeli government and military during the early years of the settlement enterprise. ─ Even half a century later, reading minutes from the Israel Defense Forces' Judea and Samaria Division discussions is difficult. Each step in the establishment of a West Bank settlement is cataloged, step by step, from planning to execution. The first step was dispossessing residents of the nearby Palestinian village of their land under the false pretext of making it a military training zone...
  • « OHCHR update of database of all business enterprises involved in the activities detailed in paragraph 96 of the report of the independent international fact-finding mission to investigate the implications of the Israeli settlements on the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem . » (OHCHR, 30 June, 2023, pdf, 8p.): click here!
    Cf. "Al-Haq Welcomes UNHRC Resolution to Ensure the Full implementation of the UN Database of Businesses Facilitating Israeli Settlements in the OPT", click here.
  • OCHA: « Displacement of Palestinian herders amid increasing settler violence » (OCHA, 21 Sept, 2023): click here!
    Settler violence has been increasing across the West Bank over the past years. Three settler related incidents per day occurred on average in the first eight months of 2023 compared to an average of two per day in 2022 and one per day the year before. This is the highest daily average of settler-related incidents affecting Palestinians since the UN started recording this data in 2006.
  • B'TSELEM: « The pogroms are working - the transfer is already happening » ( B'Tselem, September 2023): click here! Full document (pdf, 7p.): click here!
    For decades, Israel has employed a slew of measures designed to make life in dozens of Palestinian communities throughout the West Bank miserable. This is part of an attempt to force residents of these communities to uproot themselves, seemingly of their own accord. Once that is achieved, the state can realize its goal of taking over the land. To advance this objective, Israel forbids members of these communities from building homes, agricultural structures or public buildings. It does not allow them to connect to the water and power grids or build roads, and when they do, as they have no other choice, Israel threatens demolition, often delivering on these threats. Settler violence is another.
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Articles (latest first):
  • Hamdan Mohammed AL-HURAINI: « Settler-soldier militias threaten Susiya with death and displacement » (+972, Oct 31, 2023): click here.
    Like other rural West Bank communities, Susiya is being subjected to escalating Israeli assaults aimed at chasing Palestinians out of their homes.
  • Yuval ABRAHAM: « Settlers take advantage of Gaza war to launch West Bank pogroms » (+972, Oct 13, 2023): click here.
    Israeli settlers and soldiers have killed 51 Palestinians in the West Bank this past week, with two villages entirely depopulated after attacks.
  • « Israeli settlements ‘systematically erode’ viability of Palestinian State » (UN News, 27 Sept 2023): click here.
    The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process on Wednesday expressed deep concern over the relentless expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. During the last three months, more than 10,000 housing units were advanced, Tor Wennesland told ambassadors at the UN Security Council in New York.
  • Joshua LEIFER: « The End of Widady. Settler attacks are rapidly depopulating Palestinian communities in Area C of the West Bank » (Jewish Currents, Sept 6, 2023): click here.
    On June 27th, Saleh Abu ‘Awad was tending his flock on the sand-colored hills of Widady a-Tahta when two armed Israeli settlers arrived at the West Bank hamlet. The settlers threatened Abu ‘Awad with handguns and attempted to steal his sheep, according to testimony Abu ‘Awad gave to the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem. This was not the first settler attack on the Abu ‘Awad family, whose roughly two dozen members made up the entirety of the small shepherding community of Widady, located at the southernmost edge of the South Hebron Hills.
  • Avishay MOHAR: « Settlers Have a Very Effective System for Forcing Palestinians Out of Their Homes » (Haaretz, Sept 1, 2023): click here.
    Herding sheep into others' fields, preventing access to water, blocking roads, killing animals and breaking into homes in the middle of the night – these and other tactics are part of the daily terror perpetrated by settlers in Palestinian villages.
  • Oren ZIV: « ‘It’s like 1948’: Israel cleanses vast West Bank region of nearly all Palestinians » (+972, Aug 31, 2023): click here.
    In mere months, entire Palestinian communities between Ramallah and Jericho have been chased out by settler violence and state policies — paving the way for a total Israeli takeover of thousands of acres of land.
  • Reilly HOLDER: « Finding my hidden history in Israel’s colonial-settler past and present » (Mondoweiss, August 20, 2023): click here.
    Jason Sherman's film "My Tree" follows his attempt to find the Jewish National Fund tree his parents planted for him in Israel and in process learning the role it played in the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. ─ It is a common reaction for those unfamiliar with settler-colonialism to be stunned by the harsh reality of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. The greatest strength of the award-winning documentary My Tree (2021) directed by Jason Sherman is its unassuming nature. The film embodies how many people feel when they first learn about the human rights violations Israel has committed under the guise of achieving statehood. With nearly two hours of impactful content, My Tree forces the audience to consider the impact that settler-colonialism has on not only the people who are forcibly displaced by its violence, but also the environment that is altered by it.
  • Jeff WRIGHT: « How the Bible has been used to colonize Palestine » (Mondoweiss, August 16, 2023): click here.
    Mitri Raheb's latest book is a provocative examination of how the Bible has been used to support Israeli settler colonialism. “The land of Palestine is colonized by the use of military hardware that is justified by theological software,” he writes.
  • Michael YOSHII: « Congress members advocate for the Palestinian village of Wadi Fuqin » (Mondoweiss, August 5, 2023): click here.
    Members of Congress are calling on the State Department for an “immediate halt to all demolitions and property seizures in Wadi Fuqin,” a West Bank village under threat by the expansion of the illegal Israeli settlement of Betar Illit.
  • Hagar SHEZAF: « Israel’s High Court Dismisses Appeal Against West Bank Outpost of Homesh » (Haaretz, August 2, 2023): click here.
    Israel’s top court rules that moving the outpost’s buildings to state-owned land invalidates the petitioners’ argument. The state claims the outpost doesn’t bar Palestinians from accessing their privately-owned land, but a military checkpoint prevents their entry.
  • Gideon LEVY: « We even destroy their water wells » (Haaretz, 30 July, 2023, via: Jewish Voice for Labour): click here.
    JVL Introduction: "Gideon Levy cannot contain his contempt for those who have just cemented in three water wells near the Fawwar refugee camp in the South Hebron hills. He calls it “the work of the devil” and we would be hard-pressed to dissent. “Arab-hatred, apartheid, brutality and evil” he writes, “now cover the spring and groundwater and the false love for the Land of Israel. If not the most horrific crime of the occupation, he asserts, it is one of the ugliest." We agree.
  • “IIsraeli soldiers seal Palestinian well with concrete” (MEMo, July 27, 2023): click here!
    Israeli forces raided Palestinian farmland in occupied Hebron with bulldozers and poured concrete into the water sources to stop agricultural irrigation in an area that serves 25 families.
  • “Israeli Water Company Reduces Water Supply to Hebron, Bethlehem” (International Middle East Media Center - IMEMC, July 16, 2023): click here!
    The Israeli national water company Mekorot has reduced the daily amount of water supply to the provinces of Hebron and Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank by about 6,000 cups/day, said the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA), which described the move as ‘racist’.
  • Amir TIBON: "Int'l Community Starts Talking of 'One State Reality' in Light of Settlement Construction" (Haaretz, July 2, 2023): click here!
    Former UN secretary general recently warned that the two-state solution is no longer relevant. His statement joins the calls of others, who believe that the time has come to abandon the 'land for peace' formula and focus on the demand that Israel grant equal rights to Palestinians.
  • Good Shepherd Collective: July Demolition Report (July 2, 2023): Data from January 1, 2023 to July 2, 2023 (+972, June 26, 2023): click here!
  • Menachem KLEIN: "Why settler pogroms are now sweeping the West Bank" (+972, June 26, 2023): click here!
    Frustrated at the military's pushback to their pogroms, settlers will continue upholding Jewish supremacy by any means necessary.
  • Michal SALITERNIK and Ronit LEVINE-SCHNUR: "This Decision by Israel Is as Dramatic as Attempts at Constitutional Change." (Haaretz, June 22, 2023): click here!
    Israel's judicial coup and settlement expansion are inextricably linked. At first glance, the cabinet's decision at the beginning of the week on procedures for construction in the settlements may seem like a technical, bureaucratic matter. But actually it's just as dramatic as the attempts at constitutional change that have been getting such attention over the past six months.
  • Hagar SHEZAF: "Half of West Bank Land Seized by Israel Exclusively for Settler Use, Report Says" Haaretz, June 15, 2023): click here!
    Expropriated land that must legally be used to serve both Israeli settlers and Palestinians now holds settlements and roads for Jews only.
  • Ramzy BAROUD: "Permanent Apartheid in Palestine: Why Israel Wants to Reactivate The E1 Plan" (Mint Press, June 15, 2023): click here!
    The Israeli government is at it again, actively discussing the construction of thousands of illegal settlement units as part of a massive settlement expansion scheme known as E1.
  • Ramzy BAROUD: "Gangster Diplomacy: How Netanyahu is Provoking Armed Intifada in the West Bank" (Mint Press, June 5, 2023): click here!
    After signing a military decree on May 18, allowing illegal Israeli Jewish settlers to reclaim the abandoned Homesh settlement located in the northern Occupied West Bank, the Israeli government has informed the US Biden Administration that it will not turn the area into a new settlement.
  • Amira HASS: "Israeli Settlers Allowed to Live in West Bank Firing Zone After Palestinians Were Evacuated" (Haaretz, June 2, 2023): click here!
    Via Jewish Voice for Labour (June 12, 2023): "The occupation entrenches itself deep in Palestinian lands," click here!
  • "The Israeli Yeshiva in the West Bank Signaling the Long-awaited Relaunch of a Settlement" (Haaretz, May 29, 2023): click here!
    The relocating of the school is one of the new hard-right government's most significant steps to deepen the settlement enterprise and block the forming of a Palestinian state.
  • Aziza NOFAL & Zena AL TAHHAN: "‘War crime’: Israel forcibly transfers Palestinian village" (AlJazeera, May 25, 2023): click here!
    The 200 residents of Ein Samiya were forced to leave their land after years of Israeli settler and army violence.
  • Juan COLE: "Smotrich Plans to Send 500k further Israeli Squatters in to Steal More Palestinian Land in West Bank" (Informed Comment, May 20, 2023): click here!
    Yaniv Kubovich and Ben Samuels at Haaretz report that far-right extremist Bezalel Smotrich is preparing to send in another half-million Israeli squatters to steal Palestinian land in the West Bank. Smotrich is the leader of the Religious Zionism bloc in parliament and the finance minister in the Netanyahu cabinet, who also was given responsibility for the Palestinian West Bank.
  • Bethan McKERNAN: "A precious resource: how Israel uses water to control the West Bank" (The Guardian, May 17, 2023): click here!
    In occupied West Bank villages, Israeli-owned farms are flourishing, while Palestinians often do not have enough water to drink.
  • Patrick WINTOUR: "Israel treats Palestinian territories like colonies, says UN rapporteur" (The Guardian, May 12, 2023): click here!
    Francesca Albanese says Israel is maintaining occupation to get as much land as possible for Jewish people.
  • « Israëlische bezettingstroepen slopen opnieuw een Palestijnse school » (The Rights Forum, 7 mei 2023): click here.
    In alle vroegte sloopten Israëlische bezettingstroepen op 7 mei de school van het Palestijnse dorp Jubbah al-Dhib. Daardoor zitten zestig kinderen zonder onderwijs. Dezelfde school werd al eerder gesloopt, maar door vrijwilligers herbouwd.
  • Juan COLE: "Thousands of Fascist Israeli Militiamen, led by Cabinet members, march in Palestinian West Bank for Illegal Squatter-Settlement, as 27 Palestinians are Wounded and 100 are Tear-gassed" (Informed Comment, April 11, 2023): click here!
    The Israeli newspaper Arab 48 reports that on Monday about 17,000 Israeli squatters marched through the Palestinian West Bank to the shuttered illegal squatter-settlement of Evyatar on Mount Sabih near the hamlet of Beita in the vicinity of Nablus, demanding its revival. Some 27 Palestinian counter-protesters suffered injuries from rubber-tipped metal bullets, and another hundred suffered ill effects from inhalation of military-grade tear gas. They were shot by Israeli troops that provided security to the far-right march.
  • Gideon LEVY: "Who Cares if Palestinians Are Dead or Alive?" (Haaretz, April 2, 2023): click here!
    A family is informed that their son has fallen in battle. Another family, from the same community, is informed that their son has been wounded and captured, and is now lying in the enemy’s hospital beyond the border.
  • Alice SPERI: "Labs of Oppression" (The Intercept, April 1, 2023): click here!
    As Israelis Protest Mounting Authoritarianism, Apartheid Regime over Palestinians Goes Unchallenged
  • Ilan PAPPÉ: "Using the Right Language: The ‘Incremental Genocide’ of the Palestinians Continues" (The Palestine Chronicle, March 16, 2023): click here!
    I am writing this op-ed on March 10, 2023. Seventy-five years ago, on this date, the military command of the Zionist leadership publicized Plan Dalet, or Plan D, which, among other guidelines, instructed the Zionist forces on their way to occupy hundreds of Palestinian villages and several towns and neighborhoods in historical Palestine, to carry out.
  • Richard SILVERSTEIN: « Israel: Settler terrorism is now the law » (Middle East Eye, 1 March 2023): click here!
    Massed groups of settlers sweeping unchecked through Huwwara seeking vengeance. This is all on Israel's new fascist government.
  • Yousef MUNAYYER: « The settler-colonial origins of Israel’s constitutional crisis » (+972, 24 Feb 2023): click here!
    The government’s assault on the judiciary is driven by the same urge as the state’s founders: to protect their power to privilege Jews over Palestinians.
  • Amira HASS: « This Is the Disturbing Reality of Israeli Land Theft and Right-wing Rule » (Haaretz, Feb 23, 2023): click here! [https://archive.ph/CPi1V
    The Knesset's approval of a bill allowing Israelis to remain in four West Bank settlements reflects the rise of the monster against its creator. Methods that Israel and the settlers have successfully employed against Palestinians are now undermining a large segment of Jewish Israeli society.
  • Adam RAZ: « How Israel Used Flags to Assert Its Rule Over the Palestinians » (Haaretz, February 17, 2023): click here!
    Historical documents expose the abysmal seriousness that Israel devoted to flag waving by Palestinians, and no less to the hoisting of the Israeli flag.
  • Peace Now: "The Security and Political Cabinet approved the establishment of 9 new settlements by authorizing 10 illegal outposts in the Occupied Territories" (Feb 15, 2023): click here!
    Peace Now: “The Israeli government continues to act with determination in order to deepen the occupation and create facts on the ground to prevent the possibility of a future Palestinian state. The promotion of thousands of housing units in settlements in addition to the decision to establish nine new settlements, through the authorization and expansion of outposts, jeopardizes the possibility of a future Palestinian State as well as a prize for criminals and violent settlers. Anyone who is concerned about the judiciary and regime change that the government is advancing, needs to look at what it is vigorously promoting in the occupied territories, which too is an existential threat. While the immediate and primary victims are the Palestinian residents and the Palestinian people as a whole, the government imposes on all Israelis to live in a non-democratic state because there cannot be a democracy alongside occupation and settlements.”
  • "Israel 'legalises' colonial outposts, causing further irritation in Washington’" (Middle East Monitor, Feb 13, 2023): click here!
    Israel has "legalised" nine colonial outposts in the occupied West Bank, turning them into official settlements. The decision, which is said to be the first legalisation of such outposts by the Israeli government since 2012, has caused further irritation in Washington.
  • Meron RAPOPORT: "UN expert: ‘Apartheid is in front of your eyes everywhere you go’" (+972, Feb 6, 2023): click here!
    Francesca Albanese discusses the recent attacks against her, defining Israel's occupation as settler colonialism, and using international law to dismantle it.
  • Yair WALLACH: "The racial logic behind Palestine’s partition” (+972, Jan 10, 2013): click here!
    Partition was rarely endorsed as a solution to settler colonialism. But Europe's racialization of Jews distinguished Zionism from other settler enterprises.
  • Joseph MASSAD: "Biblical myths justifying conquest of Palestine belong in dustbin of history” (Middle East Eye, Jan 9, 2023): click here!
    Zionist claims regards the colonisation of Palestine have been comprehensively debunked, but they are still deployed to convince Christians and liberals.
  • Maureen Clare MURPHY: "Why Zionist settler colonialism must be confronted” (The Electronic Intifada, 23 Dec, 2022): click here!
    Israeli apartheid is a tool of Zionist settler colonialism in Palestine facilitating the state’s aim of displacing and replacing indigenous Palestinians on their land. Such is made clear in a new report by the Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq, endorsed by a coalition of Palestinian civil society organizations. The more than 200-page study builds on decades of Palestinian scholarship and advocacy and corrects fundamental flaws in recent publications on apartheid by Israeli and international human rights groups. “Zionist settler colonialism and its eliminatory and population transfer logic remain missing” from these analyses, Al-Haq states.
  • Yumna PATEL: "2022 was a record year for settler violence. Palestinians say next year will be even worse." (Mondoweiss, Dec 15, 2022): click here!
    Israeli settler violence against Palestinians soared in 2022. Palestinians say the worrying trend will only worsen as right-wing extremists make their home in Israel's new government.
  • Amira HASS: "Internal Documents Reveal Israeli Settlers' Dedication to Ousting ‘Arabs’ From West Bank" (Haaretz, Dec 12, 2022): click here!
    An internal Civil Administration document, in the form of a map and Excel spreadsheet, shows the close cooperation of state and settlers in dispossessing Palestinians.
  • "On Human Rights Day: Al Mezan condemns Israel’s settler-colonial and apartheid practices against the Palestinian people" (Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, Dec 10, 2022): click here!
    Every year, on December 10, Human Rights Day is celebrated. That same day, in 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), a foundational document that laid the foundation of international human rights law. Marking the day routinely features global efforts for the promotion of human rights.
  • Katherine NATANEL: "Affect, excess & settler colonialism in Palestine/Israel" (Settler Colonial Studies, publ. online, Aug 18, 2022, pdf, 24p.): click here!
    Abstract. What happens when we pay attention to the sensations of ourresearch? Based on an image and encounter duringfieldwork inWest Jerusalem, this article traces how a feeling of discomfortboth confirms and challenges what we (think we) know aboutsettler colonialism in Palestine/Israel.
  • Yara SA'DI-IBRAHEEM: "Settler-colonial dispossession in West Jerusalem: between the personal and the collective" (Settler Colonial Studies, publ. online, Feb 21, 2022, pdf, 24p.): click here!
    Abstract. This article analyzes a spontaneous encounter between a Palestinian refugee—stepping over the threshold of her childhood home for the first time in seventy years, following its expropriation—and the current Israeli Jewish owner. This unusual encounter led us to propose a new understanding of dispossession based on both its personal (symbolic–emotional) and collective (economic–political) meanings. The former dimension is expressed in the Palestinians’ acts of remembering and visiting their pre-1948 homes, not only as a reflection of the past and a nostalgic impulse, but also as a way of shaping, intervening in, and influencing the present. The latter, collective meaning, explores the multiplicity of dispossession processes in a settler-colonial society in which the capitalist mode of production already existed before the settlers arrived.
  • Giulia DANIELE: "Mizrahi Jews and the Zionist settler colonial context: between inclusion and struggle" (Settler Colonial Studies, July 16, 2020, pp. 461-480; abstract): click here!
    Abstract. This article intends to analyse the ‘in-between' category of Mizrahi Jews within Israeli society. The main objective is to draw attention to how Israel’s Mizrahi majority has been part of the Zionist settler colonial system itself while, at the same time, it has been greatly marginalised from the mainstream Zionist discourse led by white Ashkenazi Jews. Theoretically founded on the interconnection of three major approaches, namely settler colonialism, critical whiteness, and decolonial feminism, this contribution aims to question the current academic debate depicting asymmetric power relations founded on race, ethnic, gender and class discrimination inside Israeli society. Accordingly, Zionist settler colonialism needs to be critically analysed from a Mizrahi perspective, providing an additional element for understanding the relevance of connecting all the actors involved in the Zionist settler colonial project and reinforcing the discourse concerning settlers and indigenous people. Moreover, as the article discusses the wide cultural and political range of the Mizrahi Jews by questioning the viability of the Arab-Jew historical construct up to very recent times, it is also intended to further enhance the examination of an emerging field for studying Israel and Palestine within which several aspects and areas of inquiry remain unexplored.
  • Ibrahim EL-SAÏD: "Some are more equal than others: Palestinian citizens in the settler colonial Jewish State" (Settler Colonial Studies, July 16, 2020, pp. 481-507; abstract): click here!
    Abstract. This article aims to examine whether the passing of the Basic Law: Israel – the Nation State of the Jewish People represents a transformative moment in the history of the State of Israel, as some critics claim, that undermines the State’s unique democratic features precisely the principle of equality. In this respect, this paper aims to revisit the principle of equality as it is enshrined in the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel and as it applies in practice, law and court rulings.
  • Nadia NASER NAJJAB & , Ghassan KHATIB: "The First Intifada, Settler Colonialism, and 21st Century Prospects for Collective Resistance" (The Middle East Journal, 73. 2,  2 Aug 2019): click here!
    Abstract: This article engages with the views of prominent leaders from the First Intifada to evaluate the possibility of a Palestinian uprising under existing circumstances. It provides insight into the past and present to establish a basis for contemporary struggle. In acknowledging the fragmentation of Palestinian land and population, the article argues that many of the features that made popular struggle possible during the First Intifada are now clearly absent, requiring a new praxis of resistance.
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  • Nadia NASER NAJJAB: "The First Intifada as a struggle against settler colonialism (not colonialism): Palestinian leadership and the contemporary significance of the First Intifada" (Race & Class, 12 August 2020; copyright Institute of Race Relations, 2020, Vol. 62(2) 61–79): click here!
    Abstract. On the eve of the highly controversial 2020 plan for Israel to annex parts of the West bank, the author examines the nature of the Palestinian condition and the many challenges Palestinians confront, including the absence of an effective leadership. In registering this, the article proposes a reassessment of the First Intifada that places it in a contemporary perspective and seeks to ‘excavate’ modes of resistance. It engages with the problematic of leadership and highlights how existing challenges might be addressed. Taking into account the Oslo Accords and subsequent attempts towards neoliberal state-building, it draws on theories of settler colonialism and stresses the neo-colonial continuum in Palestine. Finally, the author interviews key activists from the First Intifada to (respectively) provide insight into the nature of the contemporary situation and suggest an alternative model of leadership and struggle.
  • Nadia NASER NAJJAB: "Palestinian education and the ‘logic of elimination’" (Settler Colonial Studies, May 4, 2020, pp. 311-330; abstract): click here!
    Abstract. Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories has sought to, and continues to, influence the Palestinian education system in a number of ways. In this article I seek to demonstrate that these interventions should be conceptualized and theorized as an extension of the ‘logic of elimination’ that Patrick Wolfe has previously ascribed to settler colonialism.1 These specific interventions in the educational field, I suggest, should be understood in the wider context of the Israeli colonialist project. In engaging with the development of the Palestinian education system in the post-1967 period, this article traces direct and indirect forms of educational influence and sketches the outlines of Palestinian resistance.
  • Ismael ABU SAAD: "Palestinian education in the Israeli settler state: divide, rule and control" (Settler Colonial Studies, Oct 31, 2018, pp. 96-116; abstract): click here!
    Abstract. This paper situates the Israeli public educational system in the broader context of colonizing educational systems and explores the avenues through which it serves the Jewish settler-state project and establishes a colonial educational hegemony. Public education in Israel is legally mandated to promote the values of Jewish culture and loyalty to the Jewish state.
  • Lorenzo VERACINI, "Patrick Wolfe’s dialectics" (Aboriginal History, Volume 40, 2016: In Memoriam Patrick Wolfe, pp. 249-260): click here!
    Patrick Wolfe’s Settler Colonialism and the Transformation of Anthropology appeared in 1998. Wolfe’s provocation was to look for settler colonialism in the ongoing subjection of indigenous peoples in settler societies.
  • David LLOYD: "Settler Colonialism and the State of Exception:The Example of Palestine/Israel" (Settler Colonial Studies 2, 1 (2012): Past is Present: Settler Colonialism in Palestine. ISSN 1838‐0743, pp. 59-80 ): click here!
    I was trying to think Palestine, Palestine for itself, ‘itself alone’, as the Irish say. But instead, I found myself thinking, and writing, ‘Palestine/Israel’, as if Palestine cannot be thought of and by itself.This gesture is one that proponents of Zionism have succeeded in imposing as a condition for even thinking about Palestine: it cannot be thought, rather, may not be thought, as an autonomous sovereign entity, giving the law to itself. Palestinian nationality, Palestinian statehood, if they can be contemplated at all, can only be proposed by permission of Israel and its patrons.
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Masafer Yatta:
  • Hamdan Mohammed AL-HURAINI: "Settler-soldier militias threaten Susiya with death and displacement" (+972, Oct 31, 2023), click here.
    Like other rural West Bank communities, Susiya is being subjected to escalating Israeli assaults aimed at chasing Palestinians out of their homes.
  • Basel ADRA: "In hottest summer ever, Masafer Yatta sears from water apartheid" (+972, August 13, 2023), click here.
    Across the West Bank, Palestinians and Israeli settlers have very different access to water resources — even when they live on the same hill.
  • Sam STEIN: "I witnessed firsthand how settlers steal Palestinian land" (Mondoweiss, August 4, 2023), click here.
    Israel's High Court evicted families from Masafer Yatta in May 2022 after declaring the area a "firing zone" for exclusive military use. Israeli settlers have since established herding outposts there on the army's watch.
  • Podcast: "The Destruction of Masafer Yatta - Resource" (Foundation for Middle East Peace, July 19, 2023), click here.
    Sarah Anne Minkin speaks with journalists Basel Adraa and Yuval Abraham about the conditions of life in Masafer Yatta in the South Hebron Hills of the West Bank, and how things have changed – and gotten far worse – since the May 2022 Israeli Supreme Court decision that authorized the IDF to expel communities in Masafer Yatta.
  • "[The Destruction of Masafer Yatta] Resources: December 9, 2021 - July 19, 2023" (Foundation for Middle East Peace, July 19, 2023), click here.
    Sarah Anne Minkin speaks with journalists Basel Adraa and Yuval Abraham about the conditions of life in Masafer Yatta in the South Hebron Hills of the West Bank, and how things have changed – and gotten far worse – since the May 2022 Israeli Supreme Court decision that authorized the IDF to expel communities in Masafer Yatta.
  • "Save Masafer Yatta!" (website), click here.
  • Masafer Yatta Archives - +972 Magazine, click here.
    Masafer Yatta · Israeli soldiers block the path of a Palestinian shepherd and her flock of sheep near the · Residents of Masafer Yatta load their belongings onto ...
  • Basel ADRA & Abraham YUVAL: « The Destruction of This Palestinian Community Was Green-Lighted by Israel’s Supreme Court » (The Nation, July 10, 2023): click here.
    The Israeli military wants the homes of Masafer Yatta for target practice. And the country’s Supreme Court says that’s totally kosher.
  • Appel à l’action : Une école primaire de Cisjordanie occupée risque d’être détruite dans les jours prochains (Association belgo-palestinienne, 23 juin, 2023): click here.
    Le dimanche 18 juin 2023, l’école primaire mixte de Khirbet Um Qussa à Masafer Yatta (collines du sud d’Hébron) a reçu un ordre de démolition de la part de l’Administration civile israélienne en Palestine occupée . A Masafer Yatta,1300 personnes sont menacées de déplacement forcé par Israël qui a décidé de transformer leurs terres ancestrales en zone de tire pour l’armée d’occupation.
  • Hamdan Mohammed AL-HURAINI: « ‘The hardest year of my life’: Masafer Yatta shepherds suffer under expulsion threat » (+972, June 5, 2023): click here.
    Israel's escalating repression since last year's High Court ruling has severely impacted Palestinian shepherds, a pillar of their communities' survival.
  • Basel ADRA: « The photos that once helped save Masafer Yatta from expulsion » (+972, Feb 16, 2023): click here.
    In 1999, images of Palestinian lives being upended generated enough pressure to enable families to return home. Now, they live in fear of the next.
  • Yuval ABRAHAM: « The theft of Harun Abu Aram’s body, home, and life » (+972, Feb 16, 2023): click here.
    Harun was born into, paralyzed, and killed by Israel's colonial system. The struggle to dismantle it begins in the cave where he spent his final years.
  • Ilana HAMMERMAN: « The Palestinians of Masafer Yatta Are Living a Nightmare » (Haaretz, February 2, 2023): click here.
  • Yaniv KUBOVICH & Hagar SHEZAF: « Israeli Army Advances Eviction of Eight Palestinian Villages in West Bank » (Haarez, January 11, 2023): click here.
    The IDF prepared the plans to evict the villages without being ordered to do so by the government, and only presented the plan after Benjamin Netanyahu was sworn in.
  • Awdah HATHALEEN: « In Masafer Yatta, teachers like me can’t guarantee our students an education » (+972, Nov 15, 2022): click here.
    With schools facing demolition orders and soldiers detaining students and teachers for hours, obstacles to education are becoming insurmountable.
  • Yumna PATEL: « Saving Masafer Yatta: The Fight Against Expulsion » (Mondoweiss, August 2, 2022): click here.
    In May 2022 the Israeli Supreme Court ruled to expel the Palestinians living in the South Hebron Hills of the occupied West Bank and hand their land over to the Israeli military. Meet the Palestinians fighting to stay in their homes and resist what rights groups are calling a war crime under international law.
  • Haaretz Editorial: « Israel's High Court of Justice, the Occupation's Rubber Stamp » (May 8, 2022): click here.
    The High Court of Justice has again proved that it is unmatched as a rubber stamp and whitewasher of the injustices of the occupation. In a ruling issued in the dead of night – ironically, between Memorial Day and Independence Day – the court permitted the expulsion from their homes of about 1,000 Palestinian residents of Masafer Yatta, in the southeast West Bank, for the benefit of Israel Defense Forces training. As a result, eight Palestinian villages whose residents have lived in them for generations will be destroyed.
  • Amira HASS: « When the Judge Ruling on the Fate of Palestinians Is Himself a Settler » (Haaretz, March 22, 2022): click here.
    Masafer Yatta is home to traditional Palestinian cave-dwellers since at least the beginning of the 20th century.
  • « Explainer: The threat of mass expulsion in Masafer Yatta » (+972, March 14, 2022): click here.
    Israel's top court could displace over 1,000 Palestinians caught in a military 'firing zone.' Here's what you need to know before the final March 15 hearing.
  • Basel ADRA: « Schools for Sumud: How Palestinians are resisting Israel’s war on education » by +972 (January 31, 2022): click here.
    As Israel demolishes Palestinian schools in the occupied West Bank, a new project aims to protect Palestinian children's right to education.
  • Emily GLICK: « Portraits of Resistance in Masafer Yatta » (Jewish Currents, November 10, 2021): click here.
    Israel’s Supreme Court will soon decide the case of the residents of Masafer Yatta, who have lived for decades under the threat of displacement by the military.
  • Shatha HAMMAD & Aaya AL-SHAMAHI: « Masafer Yatta: A Palestinian community fighting for survival » (Middle East Eye, 28 January 2021, video)): click here.
    The Masafer Yatta community in the occupied West Bank live under threat of eviction from the Israeli government and are embroiled in legal battles to stay on their land.
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Archives & Settlement Watch:
  • NYU Faculty Digital Archive: Jewish Settlements Archival Project: click here!
    Establishment of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories has been Israel’s largest national undertaking of the last half century but has attracted little scholarly research. The purpose of the Settlement Archival Research Project is to facilitate access to official records. The Taub Center for Israel Studies (TCIS) has identified almost 12,000 relevant files held by the Israel State Archives (ISA), the Israel Defense Forces Archives (IDFA), Knesset plenary debates and committee records, and records of the Israeli Supreme Court and lower courts. Over 8,000 of these files have already been catalogued, and the cataloguing continues.
  • NYU Faculty Digital Archive: Jewish Settlements Archival Project: click here!
    Establishment of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories has been Israel’s largest national undertaking of the last half century but has attracted little scholarly research. The purpose of the Settlement Archival Research Project is to facilitate access to official records. The Taub Center for Israel Studies (TCIS) has identified almost 12,000 relevant files held by the Israel State Archives (ISA), the Israel Defense Forces Archives (IDFA), Knesset plenary debates and committee records, and records of the Israeli Supreme Court and lower courts. Over 8,000 of these files have already been catalogued, and the cataloguing continues.
  • Peace Now: Settlement Watch: click here! Settlements List: click here!
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