Decolonizing Israel, Liberating Palestine: Zionism, Settler Colonialism, and the Case for One Democratic State
For decades we have spoken of the “Israel-Palestine conflict,” but what if our understanding of the issue has been wrong all along? Here is a detailed explanation of how the concept of settler colonialism provides a clearer understanding of the Zionist movement's project to establish a Jewish state in Palestine, displacing the Palestinian Arab population and marginalizing its cultural presence.
Jeff Halper, head of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) and author of An Israeli in Palestine, argues that the only way out of a colonial situation is decolonization: the dismantling of Zionist structures of domination and control and their replacement by a single democratic state, in which Palestinians and Israeli Jews forge a new civil society and a shared political community. To show how this can be done, Halper uses the 10-point program of the One Democratic State Campaign as a guide for thinking through the process of decolonization to its post-colonial conclusion. Topics include:
- How Does Zionist Settler Colonialism Work?
- The Three Cycles of Zionist Expansion
- Hasbara: The Management of Legitimacy
- A Plan of Decolonization
- Inching Toward Decolonization
- Forms of Palestinian Resistance and Agency
- Strategy: how Do We Get There?
- And much more!
Halper's unflinching reframing will empower activists fighting for the rights of the Palestinians and democracy for all. He says, "But this is not a book about settler colonialism or Zionism per se. It is a book about summoning power and decolonization, about dismantling a settler regime and replacing it with something more equitable."
