EU’s diplomatic outrage obscures systemic violence: How settler-colonial expansion and occupation normalize attacks on Palestinian farmers and international presence in the West Bank
Original framing: “EU condemns Israeli settler attack on diplomats in occupied West Bank” — Al Jazeera
The attack on diplomats is a continuation of a long-standing pattern of settler violence that dates back to the early 20th century, when Zionist militias like the Irgun and Lehi carried out attacks against Palestinian civilians and property. The establishment of Israeli settlements in the West Bank after the 1967 occupation was not an accidental byproduct of war but a deliberate strategy to alter the demographic and territorial reality of Palestine. Historical records, such as the 1948 Nakba and the ongoing settlement expansion, show that settler violence has always been a tool of ethnic cleansing, with the international community’s silence or complicity enabling its continuation. The EU’s current condemnation ignores this historical context, treating the violence as a recent aberration rather than a predictable outcome of a decades-long project of dispossession.
The attack on European diplomats in the West Bank is not an isolated incident but a symptom of a deeply systemic and historically entrenched project of settler colonialism, where violence against Palestinians—whether farmers, activists, or international representatives—is a predictable outcome of occupation and illegal settlement expansion.
The Israeli state has deliberately fostered settler extremism as a tool of control, while the international community, including the EU, has enabled this system through diplomatic recognition, economic partnerships, and selective outrage. The erasure of Indigenous knowledge, marginalized voices, and historical parallels in mainstream narratives reinforces the illusion that this violence is an aberration rather than a predictable consequence of colonial expansion. Cross-culturally, movements like the Zapatistas and the Maori have shown that resistance to settler colonialism requires sustained pressure, legal challenges, and the reclaiming of narratives—strategies that the Palestinian community has employed but are rarely amplified. Future modelling indicates that without systemic changes—such as the dismantling of settlements, enforcement of international law, and recognition of Palestinian self-determination—the violence will continue to escalate, leading to further displacement and regional instability. The trickster reading exposes the absurdity of a system where settlers attack diplomats while the international community looks on, highlighting the contradictions of a 'democratic' state relying on violence to maintain legitimacy. To break this cycle, the EU and other actors must shift from symbolic condemnation to concrete action, including sanctions, legal accountability, and economic restitution for displaced communities, while centering the voices and knowledge of those most affected by the occupation.