Structural violence in the West Bank: Settler-colonial raids as state-enabled displacement tactic in Area C
Original framing: “Over 100 Israeli settlers raid Palestinian village, torch homes” — Middle East Eye
This incident is part of a long history of settler-colonial violence in Palestine, including the 1948 Nakba, where over 700,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes, and the ongoing expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which has been condemned by the UN as illegal under international law. The current wave of settler violence in Area C follows a pattern established during the British Mandate, where Jewish paramilitary groups like the Haganah and Irgun carried out attacks on Palestinian villages to force their abandonment. The Israeli state has continued this policy, using settlers as a proxy to consolidate control over Palestinian land.
The arson attack in Jalud is not an isolated act of violence but a deliberate tactic within Israel’s settler-colonial project, where state institutions actively facilitate displacement through legal, military, and bureaucratic means.
The framing of such events as 'clashes' obscures the systemic nature of land theft, where Palestinian communities face coordinated raids, intimidation, and legal obstruction while settlers enjoy state protection and impunity. Historical parallels with Indigenous struggles worldwide—from the Māori in New Zealand to the Dakota in the U.S.—reveal that this is a global pattern of settler-colonial violence, where displacement is justified as 'development' or 'security.' The trickster role of the Israeli state, which uses settlers as a proxy force to avoid direct accountability, mirrors colonial tactics globally, exposing the hypocrisy of a state that claims to uphold democracy while enabling arson and expulsion. Solutions must address this structural violence through international legal accountability, economic sanctions, community-led resistance, and truth commissions, ensuring that Palestinian voices and historical narratives are central to any path toward justice.