Notes on the ‘Exceptionalism’ of the Israeli Settler-Colonial Project

Abstract

Israel’s settler-colonial project stands as a peculiar instance of colonial domination in the modern era, distinguished by its ideological roots in Zionism, a potent blend of mythological narratives, militaristic nationalism, and expansionist aspirations. Unlike traditional colonial powers, Israel operates without a conventional metropole, instead leveraging strategic alliances with Western powers, particularly the United States, to sustain its colonial enterprise. The endurance of this project is inextricably linked to the subjugation and fragmentation of the Arab world, which serves as a wellspring of resistance against Israel’s colonial ambitions, as evidenced by the normalization of relations between Israel and various Arab regimes. Yet, Palestinian resistance has proven resilient and adaptive, persistently asserting its rights, identity, and connection to the land, while exposing the moral bankruptcy of Israel’s colonial dominance. To fully grasp the complexities of Palestine’s past, present, and future, it is imperative to employ a settler-colonial framework, which not only illuminates the specific dynamics at play but also sheds light on the broader implications for understanding and challenging similar structures of oppression worldwide.

Keywords:

• Settler-colonialism
• Israel
• Palestine

The Israeli genocidal campaign against Gaza since the October 7^th events marks the peak of Zionist settler-colonial aggression since the Palestinian Nakba of 1948. This genocide, dramatically intensified by the unwavering endorsement and support of major Western powers towards Israel’s sadistic actions against defenseless and besieged populations, along with the passive or active complicity of many Arab regimes and regional actors, intensely reflects a profound embodiment of broader, structural, and systemic power relations that underpin the profoundly corrupt and unjust Western-led international system. Gaza is a battlefield, delineating a space where the quest for liberation struggles against the oppressive global and regional forces, where the essence of human compassion is tested against stark inhumanity, and where the drive for revolutionary change confronts entrenched structural barriers. This intensified power struggle, therefore, extends beyond the immediate geopolitical confines of Palestine, touching on universal themes of justice, resistance against oppression, and the collective responsibility to uphold human dignity. Israel, an enduring settler-colonial enterprise, serves as a poignant microcosm encapsulating almost every extremist and reactionary aspect of the global order of tyranny and structural oppression that has been defined by centuries of colonialism, imperialism, exploitation, and world wars.

Israel embodies a peculiar manifestation of settler-colonialism, presenting a level of peculiarity and specificity that stresses the need to acknowledge its exceptional nature within the broader discourse of colonial studies. The hesitation of some scholars to attribute ‘exceptionalism’ status to Israeli settler-colonialism, contending that it merely perpetuates the legacy of the colonial era into the present, fails to adequately consider the critical historical and geographical conditions that distinctly shape each settler-colonial endeavor. Unlike a uniform extension of past colonial practices, settler-colonial projects are marked by their capacity for innovation, adaptation, and the development of tailored mechanisms and strategies reflective of their specific temporal and spatial conditions. This distinctiveness is particularly evident in the case of Israel, where a combination of ahistorical narratives, religious manipulations, imperial interests, and modern statecraft converge to forge a settler-colonial project unlike any other. Israeli settler-colonialism is not merely a continuation of colonialism but a complex adaptation to the post-World War II era of decolonization of the global South, leveraging historical narratives of survival and return to justify contemporary colonization and elimination.

Israeli settler-colonialism indeed stands out as a peculiar phenomenon within the spectrum of global colonial history and practices, marked by distinct features that underscore its exceptionalism. Each dimension—ranging from its ongoing temporal continuity to the ideological, international, and resistance-related aspects to it—plays a key role in shaping the character and trajectory of this specific settler-colonial formation. The ideological foundation of Israeli settler-colonialism is deeply rooted in Zionism, which combines mythological narratives with modern militaristic nationalism and limitless colonial aspirations. The Zionist movement, emerging in the latter half of the nineteenth century amidst the complex sociopolitical milieu within Europe, represents a unique synthesis of the era’s defining forces: reactionary nationalism, colonialism, and anti-Semitism (Dana & Jarbawi 2017). This period was marked by a fervent wave of nationalism across Europe, a time when colonial ambitions were expanding, and anti-Semitic sentiments were both widespread and institutionalized. The interplay of these dynamics provided a fertile ground for the development of political Zionism, which, while drawing on elements of European nationalism and colonialism, evolved distinct characteristics that challenged classical definitions of both phenomena.

Unlike the typical nationalist movements that were typically defined by a shared language, culture, ethnicity and history within specific territorial boundaries, Zionism introduced an elusive concept of nationhood (Sand 2020). It proposed a transnational national identity, aiming to unite Jews from diverse cultural, social, and ethnic backgrounds under the singular goal of establishing a modern nation-state. The transnational nature of Zionist nationalism is particularly noteworthy because it manipulated Jewish identity, transforming it from a primarily religious affiliation into an ethnic belonging that overturned geographic, national, and cultural boundaries. This allowed the Zionist narrative to mobilize a wide segment of the dispersed and heterogeneous global Jewish population towards the common cause of building a colonial state/settler nation in Palestine and to justify its settler-colonial eliminative project on both ahistorical and atypical ideological grounds.

This synthesis contributed to the development of a racist and exclusivist settler-colonial ideology that was both a product of its time and a unique departure from other colonial and nationalist movements. It challenged conventional colonial and nationalist paradigms by advocating for a homeland for culturally and linguistically heterogeneous people dispersed around the world, by means of violent depopulation of the Palestinians (Rouhana 2024). Thus, the ideological foundation of Israeli settler-colonialism represents a singular phenomenon within the broader context of colonial history, marked by its distinctive origins, motivations, and objectives. This historical trajectory resulted in another distinctive characteristic that differentiates Israeli settler colonialism from classical European models in the absence of a traditional metropole. In contrast to the French and British empires, which orchestrated their colonial endeavors from a distant metropolitan core, Israeli settler colonialism represents a form of colonization that lacks a conventional metropole, evolving instead as a manifestation of Western imperialism with unique, home-grown attributes. This deviation is central to the Israeli settler-colonial exceptionalism, as the archetypal settler-colonial framework traditionally depends on the metropole’s provision of resources, governance, and legitimacy.

In lieu of a conventional metropolitan center, Israel has deftly navigated the geopolitical changes by first aligning its interests with those of the British colonial enterprise and later cultivating a profound and enduring alliance with the United States, effectively securing a proxy metropole to buttress its colonial ambitions (Capasso & Kadri 2023). This relationship, characterized by a patron-client dynamic, has significant repercussions both regionally and globally, bolstering Israel’s settler colonial project with a continuous influx of capital, military resources, and diplomatic support. This symbiosis effectively engenders a form of sub-imperial stewardship, positioning Israel as an expansionist settler-colonial state that operates within the expansive ambit of American imperial objectives, thereby facilitating and benefiting from the strategic interests of the United States in the Middle East. Israel is an investment in militarism for US-led imperialism. The peculiarity of the Zionist entity lies in it being a settler-colonial formation that incubates a mode of consciousness promoting imperialist values and secures US hegemonic domination in the region. By acquiring nuclear weapons and through its numerous military attacks on and invasions of other countries of the region – i.e. such as Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Israel has been the major force behind imperialist capital accumulation and its corollary, Arab de-development. As the Palestinian leftist circles in the 1960s-70s consistently emphasised, Zionism is the spearhead of imperialism in the region (Capasso & Kadri 2023).

Israeli settler colonialism’s unique characteristics, particularly its deep entrenchment with US-led imperialism, illustrate a significant evolution within the domain of settler colonial practices, adapting intricately to the post-colonial era and the geopolitical and global dynamics of the 20^th and 21^st centuries. This adaptation is marked by the strategic employment of innovative strategies that enable the continuation and justification of settler-colonial expansion amid a world characterized by a heightened disdain of colonial endeavors, supported by an elaborate framework of international legal norms. In a departure from the settler-colonial endeavors of the past, which were constrained by the technological and geopolitical limitations of their respective periods, Israeli settler colonialism has prospered with substantial support from Western powers, significantly enhancing Israel’s capacity to project its power and shamelessly impose its expansionist and genocidal agendas in the Arab region and on the international stage at large.

The perpetuation of the settler-colonial project is fundamentally contingent upon the sustained subjugation and destabilization of the Arab World, which inherently serves as the strategic reservoir for Palestinian anti-colonial resistance. Consequently, the fragmentation of the Arab World into disparate, antagonistic entities governed by client, corrupt and reactionary regimes under the auspices of US hegemony, is a sine qua non for the project’s enduring survival. This envisioned state of the Arab region has historically formed the nucleus of Zionist ideology, from its revisionist iteration articulated in Vladimir Jabotinsky’s ‘Iron Wall’ thesis, subsequently embraced by Likud and right-wing factions, to the Labour and ostensibly left-wing Zionist movements, epitomized by Shimon Peres’ neoliberal vision of ‘New Middle East.’ Irrespective of the specific Zionist strand, the Arab region must not merely be rendered militarily, economically, and technologically subordinate to Israel; rather, it must overtly demonstrate its capitulation to Israel through the processes of normalization and recognition.

The materialization of this Zionist desire, which runs counter to the aspirations of Arab masses, has been witnessed through the normalization of relations between Israel and various Arab regimes. This process began with Egypt (1979) and Jordan (1994) and has recently culminated in the Abraham Accords, involving the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan. The latter development represents a more profound attempt to strategically realign the Arab region amidst intensifying global power rivalries, positioning Israel as a superior and leading force to support US interests in the region, while completely sidelining the Palestinian right for liberation and self-determination. While mainstream circles perceive the accords as a milestone in Arab-Israeli relations and a harbinger of peace, stability, and prosperity, the true intentions behind the agreements are far from peaceful. The Accords are essentially an arms deal, failing to resolve regional conflicts and lacking any genuine intention to do so. Instead, they have enabled Israel to expand its sphere of influence and capitalize on its military superiority. In exchange, Arab countries have pursued access to Israeli military technology and expertise, which have been honed through decades of violent colonial pursuits in Palestine. This development has further contributed to the militarization and securitization of the region, consequently heightening the risk of regional conflict and instability.

Israel’s exceptionality also lies in it being ‘the world’s last remaining unresolved instance of settler colonialism’ (Bishara 2022). In other words, the project is still ongoing and incomplete, marking a critical divergence from historical precedents of settler colonial projects that either reached a conclusion or underwent significant transformation. The establishment of the Israeli state in 1948, marked by the systematic displacement of the majority of the Palestinian population, heralded the inception of a settler-colonial framework that consigned the remaining Palestinians to a peripheral existence, ensnared within a web of legal and systemic discrimination (Sabbagh-Khoury 2022). Zionist colonization was then entangled by the expansion of Israeli colonial ambitions into the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem following the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, which complicated its venture. This was particularly exacerbated by the considerable Palestinian population within these territories, necessitating a strategic pivot from the direct physical removal of Palestinians to the establishment of an apartheid regime.

The term ‘apartheid,’ originally used to describe the institutionalized racial segregation in South Africa, has taken on new meaning in the context of Israel’s domination over the Palestinians because it imples a more severe manifestations of segregation, oppression, and dispossession that define the lived experiences of Palestinians under Israeli rule, as often asserted by South African leaders (The New Arab 2024). The Israeli version is marked by a combination of settler aggression, colonial rule, racial discrimination, and the forceful removal of Palestinians to make way for Jewish-only settlements. This expansion is backed by a complex military and legal system designed not just to separate, but to actively erase the Palestinians’ physical, historical, and cultural ties to the land. The intensity of these actions, which aim at the erasure of the Palestinians, makes the term ‘apartheid’ a symbolic rather than a literal descriptor of the Israeli systemic oppression.

One particular strength of Israeli settler-colonial strategy lies in its ability to coopt and transform the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) into an agent of security enforcement. This Oslo-induced reality occurred under the pretense of promoting ‘Palestinian autonomy,’ a concept that masks the deeper, systemic intentions of control and dominance (Dana & Jarbawi 2023). Such a maneuver ensures that the maintenance and expansion of Israeli settler-colonial regime is significantly linked with, and indeed, reliant upon the active participation of the Palestinian Authority. This dynamic illustrates a sophisticated level of co-optation and control, where the mechanisms of oppression are partially administered by those it seeks to subjugate, blurring lines between a supposedly national liberation faction and complicity in the colonial arrangement. It is imperative to recognize that this arrangement, far from being an end in itself, is a calculated interim measure, laying the groundwork for a future that perpetuates the violent cycle of ethnic cleansing and mass displacement, evocative of the catastrophic events of the 1948 Nakba.

However, the distinctive features of Israeli settler-colonialism start to unravel when faced with the indomitable and unrelenting Palestinian resistance, and its regional backers, that has persisted for more than a century. This resistance, a powerful embodiment of the indomitable human spirit’s unwavering pursuit of freedom and justice, serves not only as a formidable counterforce to Israel’s colonial ambitions but also as a compelling testament to the extraordinary determination of the Palestinian people in the face of a Western-backed apparatus of oppression and dispossession. Palestinian resistance has historically manifested in a myriad of forms, ranging from armed struggle to popular uprising, from cultural preservation to legal battles in international courts, and from local grassroots organizing to the global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement (Barghouti 2011). Each of these forms of resistance articulates a narrative of defiance and self-determination, challenging the very foundations upon which Israeli settler-colonialism seeks to legitimize its existence.

The Al-Aqsa Flood operation, characterized by its synchronized assaults on Israeli fortifications via land, sea, and air, constituted a seminal juncture in the Palestinian resistance against Israeli settler colonialism. First, it has reasserted the centrality of the Palestinian question within the regional political calculus, effectively disrupting the persistent efforts towards normalization. The operation has underscored the profound significance of Palestine to the Arab populace, who harbor a deep-seated disdain for their regimes’ rapprochement with Israel. Despite the stringent security measures imposed by their governments, Arab masses have persistently demonstrated their solidarity with Gaza’s resistance through various channels, including street protests and social media platforms. Furthermore, the operation has unequivocally demonstrated that, notwithstanding the regional capitulation of numerous Arab regimes, the ‘Axis of Resistance’ has emerged as a strategically influential regional force, employing a calculated military approach to halt the ongoing genocide in Gaza. It did so, while simultaneously providing crucial strategic support to the diverse array of Palestinian political factions operating within the enclave. This multifaceted support extends from the maritime blockade imposed on Israeli southern ports by the Yemeni AnsarAllah to Hizbullah and other Lebanese factions targeting Israeli military and intelligence bases in the north, as well as the intermittent launching of missiles and drones into Israel by Iraqi militants, all of which are allied with Iran.

Second, Al-Aqsa Flood is a daring breach of the decades-long blockade stresses the Palestinian resistance’s strategic depth and savvy, challenging an opponent bolstered by superior material resources and the backing of regional and Western powers. Despite the stark power imbalance, Palestinian resistance has persistently innovated in affirming its rights, identity, and bond with the land, countering attempts to obliterate their historical and present existence. These acts of resistance, surpassing mere physical confrontation, have significantly dented the perceived invincibility of Israeli military dominance, signaling a critical juncture in the history of the colonial-driven conflict and exposing its foundational myths and moral bankruptcy. This resurgence of Palestinian resistance and defiance has galvanized international solidarity networks, spotlighting the Palestinian cause on a global stage. This wave of solidarity challenges the complacency of the liberal international order that has wittingly legitimized and continue supporting the Israeli settler colonial regime.

This special issue aims to serve as a scholarly platform for advancing the understanding of settler colonialism in Palestine, offering fresh perspectives and critical insights that contribute to the broader discourse on colonialism, resistance, and the quest for liberation and justice. By examining the complex interplay of historical legacies, contemporary practices, and future trajectories of Israeli settler colonialism, this special issue aspires to enrich the academic and public understanding of one of the most dangerous and dehumanizing phenomena of our time.

Most contributions to this special issue draw upon the insights and findings presented during the 2022 symposium titled ‘Settler Colonialism, Indigeneity, and the Palestinian Struggle against Zionism.’ This event was organized collaboratively by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies and the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, which brought together a number of scholars dedicated to exploring issues and trends of settler colonialism in the context of Palestine. The symposium stressed the importance of employing a settler colonial framework as a lens through which to understand both the historical and contemporary dynamics of Palestine, as well as its implications for understanding similar structures globally.

Ilan Pappe, Tariq Dana, and Nadia Nasser-Najjab inaugurate this special issue by charting the evolution and development of the field of Palestine Studies from its inception in the 1960s to its present recognition within the global scholarly community. Their article stresses the field’s crucial role in analyzing and deconstructing the complex mechanisms of Israeli settler-colonialism, despite the politically-concerted and well-financed efforts to undermine its credibility. The authors spotlight the significant contributions of Palestinian scholars in promoting their narratives and combating efforts to sideline them, especially in the global north.

Muahannad Ayyash examines how the critique of the settler colonial paradigm revolves around a rather weak organizing principle that separates ‘who Zionists are’ (the national element) from ‘what Zionists do to others’ (the colonial element). He refutes the notion that Zionism’s motivations for escaping persecution dilute its settler colonial nature, emphasizing instead how the violence of expulsion reshapes Zionist subjectivity towards creating a superior self at the expense of the indigenous Palestinians. Ayyash stresses that a genuine understanding and challenge to Zionism require foregrounding the settler colonial paradigm. Without this focus, efforts to explore a decolonial future are hindered, urging scholars to integrate settler colonialism and decolonization into their analyses to pave the way for meaningful change (Ayyash 2019).

Through an ethnographical study, Rami Salameh explores the impact of colonization on the bodily experiences of space and time for those subjects living under its rule. He examines how the ‘trinity of control’—checkpoints, ID cards, and permits—transcends its role as mere physical obstacles. These mechanisms serve as direct expressions of settler-colonial authority, shaping not only the physical movement but also the psychological and existential experiences of the colonized. Through this lens, Salameh illustrates how these oppressive environments influence the consciousness of the colonized, altering their sense of being and interaction with the world around them.

Kim Alley and Lorenzo Veracini delve into the intersecting narratives of indigeneity in Australia and Palestine, with a particular focus on the Indigenous experience of incarceration, both historically and contemporarily. They explore administrative detention as a prevalent form of imprisonment that epitomizes the Indigenous struggle in both nations, drawing parallels between these forms of incarceration to highlight a shared narrative of oppression that spans both time and geography. Their comparative analysis sheds light on the settler colonial mechanisms of control and the profound effects of structural violence on Indigenous communities. By examining how incarceration serves as a tool for the erasure of Indigenous presence and aids in the reinforcement of settler colonial statehood, they provide critical insights into the dynamics of domination.

Micaela Sahaar scrutinizes the way the Israeli state uses the commemoration of the Palestine Campaign, specifically engaging with the Australian First Nations, to recast Israeli settlers in an indigenous light. It outlines Israel’s strategic involvement in remembrance activities of World War I battles in historic Palestine and its deliberate efforts to build connections with Australian Aboriginal communities. By spotlighting Indigenous Australian soldiers’ roles and sacrifices, while simultaneously erasing Palestinian history and existence, these actions attempt to rebrand the Zionist settler-colonial project as inherently indigenous, thus manipulating historical narratives and collective memory.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).