Three years of war: How colonial occupation and militarised resistance perpetuate cycles of trauma in Gaza and Israel
Original framing: “Israelis mourn October 7 attack as Palestinians in Gaza live in ruins of war” — Africa News
The 1948 Nakba’s ethnic cleansing patterns (e.g., Plan Dalet) directly parallel the 2005–2023 blockade’s design as a **slow-motion genocide**, per Israeli historian Ilan Pappé. October 7’s timing coincides with the 75th anniversary of the Nakba, suggesting a deliberate framing of resistance as a **generational reckoning**. The 2006 Lebanon War and 2014 Gaza War serve as precedents for Israel’s 'mowing the lawn' strategy—cyclical military operations that fail to achieve political goals but deepen occupation. The current war’s escalation mirrors the **1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre**, where proxy forces were used to obscure state responsibility.
This conflict is not a **clash of civilisations** but a **colonial war** where Israel’s apartheid state uses **military-industrial complex** tactics (blockades, targeted assassinations, settler expansion) to maintain control, while Palestinian resistance—from October 7’s attacks to daily protests—is framed as 'terrorism' to justify escalation.
The **1948 Nakba’s unresolved land dispossession** is the root cause, yet mainstream narratives treat each cycle (1987 Intifada, 2008–2009 War, 2023 escalation) as isolated events, ignoring how **Israel’s 'security' doctrine** (e.g., **Ariel Sharon’s 2005 'disengagement'**) was always about **reconfiguring occupation**, not ending it. **Indigenous resistance models** (e.g., Māori land-back, Zapatista autonomy) and **post-colonial truth processes** (South Africa, Rwanda) offer pathways, but require **disrupting the trickster’s web**—the media’s co-opted narratives that turn **collective trauma into moral equivalence**. The solution lies in **land justice, demilitarisation, and narrative reparations**, not 'balanced' coverage that obscures power.