Israeli-Palestinian Conflict – the Settler Colonial Perspectives: Settler Colonial Studies, 02/01/24 | settler colonial studies blog

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict – the Settler Colonial Perspectives: Settler Colonial Studies, 02/01/24

14Jan24

The October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas against Israeli targets and the subsequent assaults by Israel in Gaza have turned the world’s attention on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The more traditional news media as well as various social media sites currently overflow with reports and commentaries as we collectively attempt to understand the relations between Israelis and Palestinians. What some of these voices seem to be missing is an understanding of the long and complex history of this conflict. Wanting to react to this escalating crisis, the editors of Settler Colonial Studies looked to the past volumes of the journal and compiled an article collection shedding light on the trajectories and nuances of the ongoing violent struggle. While some people around the world dispute it, for the editors of this journal Israel constitutes a settler colonial state created by the UN in 1948 from territories already occupied by the Palestinian people. Our work as an academic journal constitutes examining the complexities of such settlement situations globally – in Israel but also in the US, Australia, and elsewhere where a group created a nation out of already occupied land, often by denying the humanity and rights of Indigenous peoples. The current situation in Gaza approximates a violent act of settler colonialism, of pushing the Palestinians out of the land and replacing them. We do not dispute any nation’s right to defend itself, just as we support the rights of Indigenous groups globally to pursue their sovereignty. We hope Israel’s leaders grasp their situation as a settler colonial state, recognize the rights of those whose lands were unlawfully ceded, and work to find a two-state compromise accepting historical and current realities of settlement. We also hope Palestine’s leaders strive for sovereignty in a peaceful manner. We condemn the taking of human life on all sides and encourage collaboration and humane compromise.

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