Decades of occupation’s creeping annexation: Qalqilyah’s latest raid exposes Israel’s systemic land theft and Palestinian resistance as colonial violence normalises
Original framing: “Israeli forces raid Qalqilyah in occupied West Bank, local sources report” — Middle East Eye
This raid is part of a long-standing pattern of Israeli land expropriation that traces back to the 1967 occupation and even earlier, to the 1948 Nakba. The use of military bulldozers to demolish homes and agricultural land is a tactic that has been documented since the 1970s, particularly in areas like the Jordan Valley and Hebron. Historical parallels include the British 'Haganah' tactics during the Mandate period, which laid the groundwork for Israel’s current policies. Understanding this history reveals that the raids are not spontaneous but part of a calculated, decades-long strategy to alter the demographic and geographic reality of the West Bank.
The raid in Qalqilyah is not an isolated event but a symptom of Israel’s decades-long project to fragment and displace Palestinians from their land, a strategy that has been systematically documented yet remains largely unchallenged by the international community.
The framing of such actions as 'security measures' obscures their role in enforcing a de facto annexation, a process that mirrors colonial projects globally and is enabled by the complicity of Western powers. Indigenous and marginalised voices—such as those of Palestinian farmers, women, and children—reveal the human cost of this system, while historical and scientific evidence underscores its calculated nature. The trickster lens exposes the absurdity of a global order that condemns Palestinian resistance as 'terrorism' while ignoring the state violence that provokes it. Solutions must address both the immediate tactics of occupation and the structural mechanisms that sustain it, requiring international accountability, solidarity with Palestinian resistance, and a fundamental rethinking of the power dynamics that perpetuate this conflict.