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3.1 Settler-colonialism

3.1 Settler-colonialism

The distinction between colonialism and settler-colonialism lies primarily in the relationship between the colonisers and Indigenous populations, and the intended permanence of the colonial presence (Wolfe 2006; Veracini 2011)1 2. Colonialism is a power relationship in which a foreign minority dominates an Indigenous majority (or one brought in through force). Crucial decisions affecting the lives of the colonised are taken by the colonial rulers, typically to serve interests determined in a distant imperial centre. Rather than engaging in cultural exchange or compromise, the colonisers maintain a belief in their own superiority and in their supposed duty to rule (Osterhammel 1997)3. On the other hand, settler-colonialism aims to establish a new sovereign society by eliminating and replacing Indigenous peoples (Veracini 2017)4. As Patrick Wolfe states: “Settler-colonialism destroys to replace” (Wolfe 2006, 388)1. This process is not primarily driven by race or religion, but by the logic of possession and control over territory. In this system, invasion is not a one-time act but a structure, ongoing, pervasive, and fundamentally tied to land (Wolfe 2006; Veracini 2017)1 4.

Shino Konishi (Konishi 2019)5 notes that while both Crystal McKinnon (McKinnon 2010)6 and Barry Judd (Judd 2017)7 draw on settler-colonial theory, they ultimately view the logic of elimination as an enduring or intermittent desire for settler-colonialism rather than an overarching structure. They emphasise Indigenous agency and, like Aileen Moreton-Robinson (Moreton-Robinson 2015)8, articulate more optimistic narratives of Indigenous cultural and social resistance to 'discursive elimination' and a resurgence of Indigenous identity. McKinnon (McKinnon 2010)6 and Judd (Judd 2017)7 highlight the persistence of Indigenous identity, showcasing various ways Indigenous people have resisted assimilation and maintained distinct political identities. Moreton-Robinson (Moreton-Robinson 2015)8 and Lynette Russell (Russell 2020)9 suggest that Indigenous identity is more supple than settler-colonial constructions allow. It transcends notions of blood quanta and is shaped by connections to land, cultural practices, and concepts of kin and relatedness. Additionally, (Russell 2020)9 highlights the more ambiguous currents of undecidability and uncertainty that also shape Indigenous identity.

Joronen and Griffiths (Joronen and Griffiths 2022)10 remind us that settler-colonial projects always confront a fundamental condition of ungovernability: Indigenous life is never fully reducible to structures of domination. While settler states seek to govern through elimination, assimilation, and fragmentation, life persists in ways that exceed these logics, rendering colonial power structurally incomplete. Read alongside Wolfe’s (2006) “logic of elimination,” this perspective highlights settler-colonialism’s dual dynamic: elimination seeks to erase Indigenous presence, while ungovernability underscores its persistence. In Palestine, for example, the continued presence of Palestinians on the land despite displacement and dispossession exemplifies the limits of settler-colonial control.

However, it is important to recognise that claiming the land to be empty does not make the Indigenous populations disappear, even if settlers perceive it as such. As Wolfe suggests, while the elimination of Indigenous people can involve violent means, it can also generate a form of life by assimilating Indigenous peoples, their cultures, and their lands into the settler’s nation. This process of assimilation, as noted by Katherine Ellinghaus (Ellinghaus 2009)11, limits the ability of Indigenous peoples to challenge the settlers’ claims to the land, hindering their ability to assert their rights and sovereignty.

This dynamic is acutely illustrated in the case of Palestine, where the settler-colonial logic of elimination took both violent and assimilative forms. In 1948, a mass displacement occurred in Palestine, now known as the Nakba, where around 770,000 Palestinians of the population, were forcibly expelled (this event will be discussed further down this chapter) from their homes and the territory that Zionist settler-colonials envisioned for their new state (Masalha 1992; Morris 2004; Sitta 2001)12 13 14. Edward Said (Said 1979)15 also explores the history and ideology of Zionism in his book The Question of Palestine, which drew criticism for linking European colonialism with Zionism. In his work, he identifies three main interdependent ideas found in Zionist thought: the denial of the existence of Arab inhabitants in Palestine, the belief that the territory was empty, and the restorative Zionist project of building Jewish state using modern elements such as separate colonies and a specialised agency for land acquisition (Said 1979, 68)15. These ideas include the perception that the Arab inhabitants of Palestine are non-existent, the belief in an empty land, and the goal of rebuilding a Jewish state using modern methods (Said 1979, 68)15. Said draws parallels between the Zionist narrative of empty land and the perspective of Puritans, who viewed North America in a similar way, although nineteenth-century European colonial powers typically acknowledged the presence of native populations (Said 1979)15. Furthermore, Said highlights similarities between the experiences of Arab Palestinians under Zionism and those subjected to nineteenth-century imperialists’ dehumanising treatment (Said 1979, 68--69)15.

Current research on the Palestinian issue often focuses on Palestine as an exceptional case of occupation, but there is a growing recognition of the framework of settler-colonialism (Salamanca et al. 2012)16. Israel’s self-styled exceptionalism lies in the way it positions itself “above and outside domestic and international law regarding Palestinian citizens, as well as occupied, besieged and refugee subjects.” (Lentin 2020)17. Framing Israel as a settler-colonial state offers conceptual and political resources to challenge Israel’s exceptionalism and facilitates valid comparisons with other settler-colonial cases like South Africa, Rhodesia, the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia (Lentin 2020)17.

Omar Salamanca et al. (Salamanca et al. 2012)16 highlight the perceived threat that Indigenous Palestinians pose to the Zionist project, as well as the challenge they continue to pose after the Nakba. Despite the efforts to forcefully remove Palestinians in the past, a significant number remained: after the Nakba, about 160,000 Palestinians became Israeli citizens and faced new challenges to their status (Salamanca et al. 2012)16. The Israeli occupation of the West Bank after the 1967 conquest aimed to reproduce and make permanent the occupation, facilitating settler-colonialism (Veracini 2013)18. Unlike the period surrounding the Nakba, where violent expulsions occurred, many Palestinians did not leave in 1967 (Veracini 2013)18. As (Veracini 2017, 5)4 highlights, the continuing presence of Palestinians in the territory challenges the notion of a triumphantly violent settler-colonialism that transforms Indigenous people’s place into space and then back into place again.

According to (Salamanca et al. 2012, 1)16, the Zionist project subjects Palestine and Palestinians to structural and violent forms of dispossession, land appropriation, and erasure in the pursuit of a new Jewish state and society. Veracini emphasises that settler-colonialism is not only a thing of the past but also a present reality (Veracini 2011)2.

The following sections will provide an overview of key events from the rise of the Zionist project to the current situation, shedding light on the dominant powers affecting Palestinians.

References

  1. Wolfe, Patrick. 2006. "Settler Colonialism and the Elimination of the Native." Journal of Genocide Research 8 (4): 387--409. https://doi.org/10.1080/14623520601056240. ↩↩↩

  2. Veracini, Lorenzo. 2011. "Introducing Settler Colonial Studies." Settler Colonial Studies 1 (1): 1--12. https://doi.org/10.1080/2201473x.2011.10648799. ↩↩

  3. Osterhammel, Jürgen. 1997. Colonialism: A Theoretical Overview. Translated by Shelley Frinsch. Markus Wiener Publishers. Markus Wiener Publishers. ↩

  4. Veracini, Lorenzo. 2017. Introduction: Settler Colonialism as a Distinct Mode of Domination. Edited by Edward Cavanagh and Lorenzo Veracini. The Routledge Handbook of the History of Settler Colonialism. Routledge. ↩↩↩

  5. Konishi, Shino. 2019. "First Nations Scholars, Settler Colonial Studies, and Indigenous History." Australian Historical Studies 50 (3): 285--304. https://doi.org/10.1080/1031461X.2019.1620300. ↩

  6. McKinnon, Crystal. 2010. "Indigenous Music as a Space of Resistance." In Making Settler Colonial Space: Perspectives on Race, Place and Identity, edited by Tracey Banivanua Mar and Penelope Edmonds. ↩↩

  7. Judd, Barry. 2017. "Sporting Intervention: The Northern Territory National Emergency Response and Papunya Football." In \"And There'll Be No Dancing\": Perspectives on Policies Impacting Indigenous Australia Since 2007, edited by Elisabeth Bähr and Barbara Schmidt-Haberkamp. ↩↩

  8. Moreton-Robinson, Aileen. 2015. The White Possessive: Property, Power, and Indigenous Sovereignty. Indigenous Americas. University of Minnesota Press. ↩↩

  9. Russell, Lynette. 2020. "Settler Colonial Studies: Eliminating the Native and Creating the Nation." Postcolonial Studies 23 (1): 1--7. https://doi.org/10.1080/13688790.2020.1727956. ↩↩

  10. Joronen, Mikko, and Mark Griffiths. 2022. "Ungovernability and Ungovernable Life in Palestine." Political Geography 98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2022.102734. ↩

  11. Ellinghaus, Katherine. 2009. "Biological Absorption and Genocide: A Comparison of Indigenous Assimilation Policies in the United States and Australia." Genocide Studies and Prevention 4 (1): 59--79. https://doi.org/10.3138/gsp.4.1.59. ↩

  12. Masalha, Nur. 1992. Expulsion of the Palestinians: The Concept of \"Transfer\" in Zionist Political Thought 1882-1948. Institute for Palestine Studie. Institute for Palestine Studie. ↩

  13. Morris, Benny. 2004. The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511816659. ↩

  14. Sitta, Salman Abu. 2001. The Unfolding of the Holocaust - Palestine Remembered. Https://palestineremembered.com/Acre/Right-Of-Return/Story433.html\ #Table3. ↩

  15. Said, Edward. 1979. The Question of Palestine. Vintage Books. Vintage Books. ↩↩↩↩↩

  16. Salamanca, Omar Jabary, Mezna Qato, Kareem Rabie, and Sobhi Samour. 2012. "Past Is Present: Settler Colonialism in Palestine." Settler Colonial Studies 2 (1): 1--8. https://doi.org/10.1080/2201473x.2012.10648823. ↩↩↩↩

  17. Lentin, Ronit. 2020. "Palestinian Lives Matter: Racialising Israeli Settler-Colonialism." Journal of Holy Land and Palestine Studies 19 (2): 133--49. https://doi.org/10.3366/hlps.2020.0238. ↩↩

  18. Veracini, Lorenzo. 2013. "The Other Shift: Settler Colonialism, Israel, and the Occupation." Journal of Palestine Studies 42 (2): 26--42. https://doi.org/10.1525/jps.2013.42.2.26. ↩↩