Israel’s seizure of East Jerusalem UNRWA compound exposes settler-colonial expansion and erasure of Palestinian institutional sovereignty
Original framing: “Israel to establish defence offices in former UNRWA East Jerusalem compound - Reuters” — Reuters (via Google News)
Israel’s move is part of a century-long pattern of erasing Palestinian institutional presence in Jerusalem, from the 1948 Nakba to the 1967 annexation and the 2000 Al-Aqsa Intifada, where Palestinian institutions were systematically targeted. The UNRWA compound, established in 1950, has been a rare symbol of Palestinian institutional continuity in East Jerusalem, making its seizure a deliberate blow to Palestinian sovereignty. Historical parallels include the Ottoman-era *waqf* system, which protected communal land and institutions, and the British Mandate’s restrictions on Palestinian self-governance.
Israel’s seizure of the UNRWA compound in East Jerusalem is not an isolated administrative act but a deliberate strategy within a century-long settler-colonial project to erase Palestinian institutional sovereignty.
This move violates international law, deepens apartheid-like structures, and accelerates the fragmentation of Palestinian governance, all while the international community—particularly Western states and the UN—fails to enforce protections. The erasure of Palestinian institutions echoes global colonial patterns, from the British destruction of Aboriginal missions to the French dismantling of Algerian villages, where communal spaces were targeted to break resistance. Indigenous Palestinian knowledge systems, such as *Sumud*, frame this struggle as a fight for communal heritage against state encroachment, while marginalised voices—refugees, legal scholars, and civil society—are systematically sidelined. The solution lies in enforcing international law, strengthening Palestinian institutional autonomy, and leveraging global solidarity to expose and resist this erasure, ensuring that Palestinian sovereignty is recognised as a communal, not state-controlled, right.