5.3 Conclusion

5.3 Conclusion

The architecture of control in the settler-colonial landscape operates not merely as a means of immediate domination but as an instrument of slow erasure. It is designed to fragment Palestinians, dislocate them from their land, and sever their ties to an episteme rooted in spatial, historical, and cultural continuity. Through militarised checkpoints, enforced relocations, the destruction of homes and farmlands, and the calculated assault on knowledge systems, this architecture erodes identity and agency over time. It renders Palestinians hyper-visible as a subject of surveillance and control yet simultaneously seeks to erase it from the landscape and from history. The systematic restriction of movement and the imposed fragmentation of space are not incidental. They form part of a long-term strategy to make Palestinian presence precarious, to enforce patterns of displacement that appear administratively mundane but are deeply existential in their consequences. Checkpoints, walls, and militarised zones function as spatial technologies of power, not only obstructing physical mobility but also limiting the possibilities of resistance, cultural continuity, and communal cohesion. The experience of daily passage through these spaces is not only one of physical constraints but also of epistemic rupture, disrupting the intergenerational transmission of knowledge that is intimately tied to land and locality.

Moreover, the targeted erasure of Palestinian episteme, whether through the reconfiguration of Bedouin existence into state-imposed settlements, the erasure of Palestinian history from educational curricula, or the destruction of cultural symbols, reveals a settler-colonial logic that extends beyond physical displacement. The forced removal of Palestinians from land is accompanied by an effort to sever the narratives and ways of knowing that sustain collective identity. By eliminating the conditions necessary for knowledge transmission, the settler-colonial state envisions not only the disappearance of Palestinian presence but also the dissolution of Palestinian futurity.