If settler colonialism is permanent occupation, an occupation that is permanent is settler colonial: Rimona Afana, ‘The Occupation–Colonialism Continuum: Impact on Transitional Justice in Palestine/Israel’, in Nada Kiswanson, Susan Power (eds), Prolonged Occupation and International Law: Israel and Palestine, Brill, 2023 | settler colonial studies blog

If settler colonialism is permanent occupation, an occupation that is permanent is settler colonial: Rimona Afana, ‘The Occupation–Colonialism Continuum: Impact on Transitional Justice in Palestine/Israel’, in Nada Kiswanson, Susan Power (eds), Prolonged Occupation and International Law: Israel and Palestine, Brill, 2023

23Mar23

Excerpt: Though belligerent occupations are, under international law, presumed to be extraordinary, temporary, and conservationist, Israel’s occupation of Palestinians appears normalised, permanent/indefinite, and invasive/interventionist. Given its role in blocking resistance and normalising subjugation, the occupation functions as a tool of and smokescreen for colonialism. While diverging from “classic” settler colonialism in logic, in implementation the Zionist project features practices emblematic of colonial enterprises elsewhere. To delineate the specificity of transitional justice in the (com)promised lands, the continuities between different layers of harm were mapped. As evidenced by my theoretical and empirical findings, these harms include settler colonialism and its offshoots: ethnic cleansing, military occupation, annexation, apartheid, the conflict’s protracted and deliberate non-resolution, third party interventionism, and a pervasive culture of intransigence.

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