On Tuesday, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz asserted that the military would never fully withdraw from Gaza, stating that outposts in Northern Gaza will be established “in place of the settlements that were uprooted.”
“We are located deep inside Gaza, and we will never leave all of Gaza,” Katz stated. “We are there to protect.” Protect being the euphemism for colonise.
Speaking about the occupied West Bank, Katz clarified, “Netanyahu’s government is a settlements government … it strives for action. If we can get sovereignty, we will bring about sovereignty. We are in the practical sovereignty era.”
Listening to these statements, knowing full well what Israel’s genocide unleashed in Gaza, as well as the increased oppression in the occupied West Bank overshadowed for two years by the genocide, is the international community really blind about colonialism?
Of course not, the international community just prefers to segment colonialism into individual human rights violations that are more manageable than looking at the entire historical picture up to the present.
The UN, for example, keeps updated statistics on Israel’s forced displacement of Palestinians, but how much attention did it give the Nachala Settlement Movement and the Yesha Council as they pushed for settlement expansion in Gaza during the genocide? Last week, two groups of settler activists affiliated to the Nachala settlement movement entered Gaza, advocating for both the expulsion of Palestinians from the enclave and for establishing Jewish settlements. “We must begin to settle in Gaza now,” Daniella Weiss, Nachala’s leader stated.
This is an example of what precedes Israel’s forced displacement of Palestinians. One must point out that Israel has been forcibly displacing the already forcibly displaced Palestinians for decades. But even here, the UN refuses to link earlier displacements to the current. The result has been complete impunity for Israel as the UN manages colonialism’s international law violations and war crimes through rhetoric, statistics and humanitarian aid.
Katz may speak about practical sovereignty, but what we are seeing is the practicality of colonialism, meaning violence at all costs to clear the land of its indigenous population. While Katz finds no opposition to his rhetoric and Israel sees no obstacles to its actions, how does the UN plan to pretend to protect Palestinians this time? The UN barely acknowledged genocide – a brief assertion two years later reeks of hypocrisy. The two-state paradigm is so tattered it only makes sense among officials seeking complete colonisation.
While Israel now has ample time to construct its next genocidal phase, the UN has run out of options in its pretence. And yet, Palestinians are still coerced to resort to international institutions to make their case, just to have it turned against them by the former colonial vestiges that protect the current colonial power.
No comments:
Post a Comment