Spying settlers: Merve Gönlühoş Elmas, ‘Espionage as a Settler-Colonial Practice: The Case of the Palestine–Syrian Front During World War I’, Middle East Critique, 2026 | settler colonial studies blog

Spying settlers: Merve Gönlühoş Elmas, ‘Espionage as a Settler-Colonial Practice: The Case of the Palestine–Syrian Front During World War I’, Middle East Critique, 2026

04May26

Abstract: This article explores espionage as a foundational yet understudied strategy within the broader framework of settler colonialism. While existing literature has extensively analyzed the structural and discursive dimensions of settler-colonial projects, little attention has been paid to the practices that enable their success. Indeed, focusing on the role of espionage operations, this study argues that civilian-based espionage was critical for the Zionist settler-colonial project. Through a historical case study of the Nili organization, an early Zionist espionage network that collaborated with British forces against the Ottoman state during World War I, the article demonstrates how espionage became an operational practice in the Palestine–Syrian front. By situating Nili within the logic of the Zionist settler-colonial project, it contributes to a deeper understanding of how espionage operations even foster the development of settlements to a state power, as in the Israeli case. Within this context, the study calls for a rethinking of espionage as a central practice of settler-colonial transformation starting with civilian-based spying networks ending up as settler-colonial states.

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