Colonial expansionism in Gaza: How settler ideology and occupation normalize ethnic displacement as electoral strategy
Original framing: “‘Occupation. Expulsion. Settlement’: Israeli politician campaigns on platform to ethnically cleanse Gaza” — Middle East Eye
The slogan 'Occupation. Expulsion. Settlement' echoes the language of the 1948 Nakba, when Zionist militias expelled 700,000 Palestinians, and the 1967 occupation, which led to the construction of illegal settlements. These policies were not ad-hoc but part of a deliberate strategy to fragment Palestinian territory and demographically alter the region. Historical precedents, such as the British 'partition' of India or the Belgian Congo’s forced labor systems, show how colonial powers use similar tactics to consolidate control. The current campaign is a continuation of this pattern, not an anomaly.
The headline’s focus on Feiglin as an isolated figure obscures the systemic nature of Israeli settler colonialism, which has for decades used displacement, military control, and legal manipulation to consolidate power over Palestinian land.
This project is not an anomaly but the culmination of ideological and institutional forces—from Zionist ideology to global complicity—that treat Palestinian existence as a threat to be managed through expulsion. The framing misses how these policies are part of a global pattern of settler violence, where land dispossession is justified through narratives of security, civilization, or demographic necessity, while erasing Indigenous and Palestinian sovereignty. Solutions must address the root causes: international accountability for war crimes, reparative justice for displaced communities, and global solidarity movements that challenge the economic and political underpinnings of occupation. The trickster lens reveals the absurdity of treating ethnic cleansing as a political campaign, while the historical and Indigenous dimensions restore the narrative of resistance and resilience that mainstream media often silences.