Violence in all directions: Areej Sabbagh‐Khoury, ‘Decolonizing Epistemological Violence: Settler Colonialism and Intracommunal Violence and Crime in Palestinian Society in Israel’, Sociology Compass, 2026, #20:e70247 | settler colonial studies blog

Violence in all directions: Areej Sabbagh‐Khoury, ‘Decolonizing Epistemological Violence: Settler Colonialism and Intracommunal Violence and Crime in Palestinian Society in Israel’, Sociology Compass, 2026, #20:e70247

13Oct26

Abstract: This paper critically examines production of knowledge about intracommunal violence and crime within Palestinian society in Israel, highlighting the relationship between power structures and epistemological frameworks. It centers the ontological relationship of power to settler colonial structures, interrogating how knowledge is shaped within domination and resistance. The paper identifies two paradigms: the first, a cultural/pathological paradigm that frames violence as a manifestation of cultural or social dysfunction; the second, an ethnic‐minority/liberal paradigm, which attributes violence to inequality and social stratification, positioning Palestinians as a marginalized minority within a liberal state. It then introduces a third burgeoning paradigm, the settler colonial and apartheid paradigm, conceptualizing violence as a consequence of structural dispossession, systemic neglect, and “organized colonial abandonment.” Drawing on a systematic review of academic, NGO, and journalistic reports in Hebrew, Arabic, and English, the paper demonstrates how certain paradigms reinforce dominant narratives that stigmatize Palestinian society in Israel while obscuring the Israeli settler state’s role in sustaining violence and Jewish supremacy. It further highlights the key role of Palestinian NGOs, activists, and journalists in challenging two hegemonic frameworks and producing counter‐knowledge. By advocating anti‐colonial epistemology within social sciences, the paper calls for centering counter‐ hegemonic knowledge production, affirming indigenous struggles for epistemological and material decolonization.

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