clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

Minister’s UN demand should prompt reference to Israel as a settler-colonial state

June 13, 2017 at 12:45 pm

An illegal Israeli settlement built on occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank [Mahfouz Abu Turk/Apaimages]

The UN is fast becoming a playground for Israel’s outrageous antics. The international organisation has normalised settler-colonialism and the ensuing violence, and bequeathed Palestinians with a jeopardised visibility due to its collaboration with Israel. Now, it faces yet another demand made by Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely, who wants the UN to stop referring to Israel’s “occupation” and refrain from using “Palestinian propaganda vocabulary”.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres [File photo]

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres [File photo]

Last week, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for an end to the military occupation of Palestine which commenced in 1967 and has entered its 50th year. Hotovely’s objection rests upon the Israeli narrative that it “liberated” the land it now occupies. This premise is an aberration, given that the colonial entity has imposed itself and its imported population upon Palestinian territory.

Hotovely’s demand sheds light upon the perceptions and normalisation of colonialism. If history was allowed a space in the current political agenda, it is possible that Israel would have objected to colonialism rather than occupation. However, through the UN itself, Palestine’s history has suffered from being distorted in order to pave the way for its fragmentation and, as a result, that it will provide a niche for manifestations of the initial colonisation as unrelated consequences. This partial visibility, however, is also irking Israel now, albeit not for any preference with regard to accurate terminology. Israel is after a complete and irreversible normalisation of its illegal presence and actions, something which the UN has granted through the mere acceptance of Israel’s existence but which is still marred by references indicating blatant violations of international law.

Read: Israeli politician calls on UN to stop using the term ‘occupation’

The visibility allocated to Israel’s military occupation, although clearly unfavourable for Israel, is also detrimental to Palestinians in terms of history, memory and legitimacy. It has allowed sporadic focus on specific violations which are not analysed within the colonial context and has thus marginalised Palestinians further into the dissociated humanitarian zone, wherein temporary compromise takes precedence over addressing Israel’s contempt for their human, civil and legal rights. So dire is the situation, that use of “occupation” may indeed one day be declared obsolete and even illegal, although not within the immediate timeframe dictated by Hotovely. There can be no oblivion of the fact that the combination of Israel’s violations is geared towards the complete displacement and extermination of the indigenous population. If Israel is normalised even further and the colonial project completed, the need for reference from the UN will, in all likelihood, be rendered obsolete, and complicity on behalf of the organisation will be sealed.

#OccupiedPalestine

As things stand, it is a pity that the UN lacks the political will and moral courage to challenge Israel on accuracy of terminology. A hypothetical acceptance of such a demand would leave a single and more accurate option; that of consistently referring to Israel as a settler-colonial state. It would dispel a prevailing misconception that the military occupation is solely responsible for the Palestinians’ plight today, seek accountability for the crimes committed by Zionist paramilitaries during the 1948 Nakba and acknowledge that the usurpation of Palestine commenced earlier with the first settler-colonies during the pre-Nakba eras paving the way for the current, apparently unlimited, expansion of Israel. Moreover, it would seek decolonisation rather than pursue the two-state imposition which is nothing other than a euphemism under which Israel is allowed to colonise Palestine and murder and displace its people. While the UN will not, linguistically, heed Hotovely’s request, it will also refrain from referring to Israel as a settler-colonial state to safeguard its own complicity from unravelling for all to see.

Nakba journey - Palestinians fleeing during the Nakba in 1948
More than 1 million Palestinians were displaced in 1948
Relive the journey of Nakba refugees

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.