« Settler nationalism and Indigenous self-determination: Etienne Cardin-Trudeau, ‘Transforming settler nationalism in Québec: Recovering the principles of the historical treaties’, Nations and Nationalism, 2024
Land grabbing settler colonialism: Elizabeth McKenzie, Ian Mosby, ‘Reconciling the Ledger: The Rupert’s Land Purchase, Settler Capitalism, and Indigenous Dispossession on the Prairies’, Journal of the Canadian Historical Association, 34, 1, 2024, pp. 105-139 »

Settler inflexibility (we knew this already): Eli Osheroff, ‘Settling a State-Settling for a State: Reinterpreting One Hundred Years of Zionist–Arab Relations’, Palestine/Israel Review, 2024

03Aug24

Abstract: In recent years, a more coherent, widespread critique of Zionism as a form of settler colonialism has developed in Western academia. Despite its critical assumptions regarding Zionism, this conversation has yet to influence one of the core images of the Zionist-Arab encounter, mainly that of Palestinian intransigence versus Zionist political flexibility. According to this stereotypical image, these contrasting political characteristics played a central role in allowing a Jewish state to be established in a large part of historical Palestine, while an Arab one did not materialize. By examining political encounters between Zionists and Palestinians over the course of more than a hundred years, this article shows that, in fact, Palestinian leadership and Palestinians generally were willing to settle for an internationally recognized Arab-Palestinian state at key points. By contrast, Zionists usually exhibited greater ambivalence toward the idea of a recognized state, preferring to settle for something else, mainly expansionism. By adopting a counterintuitive approach, this article seeks to contrast the colonial dimension of Zionism with the more flexible and ultimately more state-and norm-oriented quality of Palestinian nationalism.


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