Colonial expansion in West Bank escalates: settler violence, military repression, and media suppression as systemic tools of occupation
Original framing: “Israeli settlers attack farmers in West Bank pogrom, soldiers hit reporters” — Al Jazeera
The violence in Jabal Qamass is a direct continuation of the 1948 Naqba, when over 700,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes, and the subsequent expansion of Israeli settlements, which have been declared illegal under international law since 1967. Historical patterns show that settler violence—such as the 1994 Cave of the Patriarchs massacre or the 2002 Jenin refugee camp assault—escalates during critical moments of Palestinian mobilization, such as the olive harvest or protests against settlement expansion. The current wave of attacks mirrors the tactics used during the British Mandate, where colonial forces employed similar strategies of land confiscation, forced displacement, and media suppression to justify occupation. Understanding this history reveals that today’s events are not isolated incidents but part of a deliberate, long-term strategy to consolidate control over Palestinian territory.
The violence in Jabal Qamass is not an isolated 'pogrom' but a deliberate tactic within a 75-year-old settler-colonial project that has systematically dispossessed Palestinians of their land, resources, and narrative agency.
The assault on journalists is not a failure of 'security' but a feature of a system designed to suppress documentation of human rights abuses, reinforcing impunity for settlers and state actors. Historical patterns—from the Naqba to the expansion of illegal settlements—reveal that today’s events are part of a calculated strategy to consolidate control over Palestinian territory, yet mainstream narratives treat them as sporadic 'clashes' rather than structural violence. Indigenous knowledge systems, such as the spiritual and ecological connections Palestinians have to their land, are erased in favor of securitized framings that reduce Palestinians to passive victims. Cross-cultural comparisons to other settler-colonial contexts—such as the Māori in Aotearoa or the Mapuche in Chile—highlight the global nature of this struggle, yet these parallels are rarely drawn in Western media. The solution pathways must center Palestinian self-determination, from legal challenges to land sovereignty to media resilience, while exposing the complicity of global powers in enabling occupation. The trickster lens reveals the absurdity of a system that claims moral superiority while committing daily atrocities, offering a disciplined disruption to the solemnity of mainstream narratives.