Decolonizing the Study of Palestine: Indigenous Perspectives and Settler Colonialism after Elia Zureik

Writing about Palestine and the Palestinians continues to be controversial. Until the late 1980s, the question of Palestine was approached through Western social theories that had appeared after World War 2. This endowed European settlers and colonists the mission of guiding the "backward" natives of Palestine to modernity. However, since the work of Palestinian scholar Elia Zureik, the study of Israel, the Arab countries and the "ethnic relations" in Palestine-Israel has been radically shifted.

Building on Zureik’s work, this book studies the colonial project in Palestine and how it has transformed Palestinians' lives. Zureik had argued that Israel was the product of a colonization process and so should be studied through the same concepts and theorization as South Africa, Rhodesia, Australia, and other colonial societies. He also rejected the moral and civilizational superiority of the European settlers. Developing this work, the contributors here argue that colonialism is not only a political-economic system but also a "mode of life" and consciousness, which has far reaching consequences for both the settlers and the indigenous population. Across 15 chapters, the book covers topics such as settler colonialism, dispossession, the separation wall, surveillance technologies, Palestinian education, decolonisation methodologies and popular resistance. Composed of Palestinian scholars and scholars of Palestinian heritage, it is the first book in which the indigenous Palestinians "write back".

Nur Masalha is a Palestinian historian and academic based in the Centre for Palestine Studies, SOAS, University of London, UK. He is Editor of the Journal of Holy Land and Palestine Studies. His authored books include Palestine Across Millennia: A History of Literacy, Learning and Educational Revolutions (I.B.Tauris, 2021) and Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History (Zed, 2018) and he has co-edited An Oral History of the Palestinian Nakba (Zed, 2018) and The Bible and Zionism: Invented Traditions, Archaeology and Post-Colonialism in Palestine-Israel” (Zed, 2007) among many others.

Ahmad H. Sa’di is Associate Professor in the Department of Politics and Government at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. He is the author of Thorough Surveillance: The Genesis of Israeli Policies of Population Management (2014) and Surveillance & Political Control towards the Palestinians (2013), and the co-editor of Nakba: Palestine, 1948, and the Claims of Memory (2007). He was formerly a Visiting Professor at the Universities of Waseda, Japan, as well as The National University of Singapore, Singapore; and Columbia University, US.

"A remarkable collection of timely and original contributions, mainly by Palestinian scholars, to decolonizing knowledge about the settler colonial nature of Zionism and the state of Israel"―Rashid Khalidi, Columbia University

"This edited volume is undoubtedly an essential step in decolonizing the study of Palestine. Its richness and methodological accuracy allow us to insert it in the general debate of decolonizing academia from an Indigenous-Native perspective.” ―Maydan: rivista sui mondi arabi, semitici e islamici

“This book makes a groundbreaking contribution to both Palestine studies and settler colonial studies. The life works and scholarly legacy of Elia Zureik is essential for understanding what settler colonialism is and does Palestine. Equally, this volume forefronts Palestinian scholarly voices and, in doing so, establishes the appropriate foundations for decolonizing Palestine studies.” ―Somdeep Sen, Associate Professor in International Development Studies, Roskilde University, Denmark.

“A landmark volume by leading Palestinian scholars and a fitting tribute to the pioneering scholarship of the late sociologist Elia Zureik. Inspired by his insistence on the inseparability of epistemological decolonization and empirical rigor in the study of the colonial situation under which Palestinians live, diverse and eye-opening essays illuminate the value of concepts like internal colonialism while exposing the formidable technologies of rule to which they have been subjected in the past and present.” ―Lila Abu-Lughod, Columbia University

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