Digital land registry in the West Bank reinforces colonial control and displaces Palestinian ownership
Original framing: “‘Dangerous colonial occupation’: Israel’s digital West Bank land register” — Al Jazeera
The use of digital land registries to enforce occupation has historical parallels in European colonial land policies in Africa and the Americas. From the 19th century onward, colonial powers used land surveys and legal codification to dispossess indigenous populations, a pattern that continues in digital form today.
The digital land registry in the West Bank is a systemic tool of colonial control that erases indigenous land rights and entrenches structural inequality.
It reflects a global pattern where digital technologies are used to enforce land dispossession under the guise of modernization. To counter this, we must integrate indigenous knowledge, support grassroots movements, and develop ethical digital governance frameworks that prioritize justice and inclusion. International legal accountability and cross-cultural collaboration are essential to ensuring that technology serves the rights and dignity of all people, not just the powerful.