It’s only a (settler colonial) question of time: Batool Mashaqi, Zahraa Zawawi, Huthaifa I. Ashqar, ‘Ecology of erasure: spatiotemporal colonial practices and the loss of Palestinian space, time, and lives’, GeoJournal, 90, #250, 2025 | settler colonial studies blog

It’s only a (settler colonial) question of time: Batool Mashaqi, Zahraa Zawawi, Huthaifa I. Ashqar, ‘Ecology of erasure: spatiotemporal colonial practices and the loss of Palestinian space, time, and lives’, GeoJournal, 90, #250, 2025

27Sep25

Abstract: This study critically examines transportation planning in the West Bank, revealing how it serves as a colonial mechanism of control and segregation, rather than a facilitator of urban growth and connectivity. Unlike cities that thrive as “living organisms” through integrated networks of roads and services, Palestinian territories are subjected to a meticulously crafted spatiotemporal colonialism through fragmentation, where movement is restricted, resources are unevenly distributed, and communities are deliberately isolated. Through an analysis of historical context, policies, zoning, and infrastructure prioritization, this study exposes the use of transportation planning as a tool to entrench colonial power, limit Palestinian self-determination, and erode the socioeconomic foundations of urban life. The findings underscore that transportation planning in the West Bank is not merely a logistical concern but a deliberate colonial strategy to reconfigure urban landscapes, control populations, and restrict Palestinian access to their own land. The study shows that the Israeli colonial power systematically strips away the quality of Palestinian life through relentless control over time and movement, turning checkpoints into sites where not only freedom but lives themselves are taken. Palestinian identity, however, extends beyond the human realm, woven into the land, water, and ecology—an enduring presence that resists erasure through its deep connection to place.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Closed