| Description |
This thesis addresses the question of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by examining Zionism as a settler-colonial national movement, and it demonstrates that the realization of Zionism in both its Labor and Revisionist interpretations has inevitably led to continuous policies of ethnic cleansing in Palestine. The thesis begins by defining "ethnic cleansing" and analyzing various cases of population cleansing to determine whether they fit this definition. It then traces the development of Zionism and its national content, and discusses the state of Palestine before the rise of Zionism. To provide the necessary framework for understanding Zionism as a settler-colonial nationalism that embraced ethnic cleansing to achieve and sustain its national content, the thesis discusses the events of 1947-49, the developments in the wake of the 1967 war, and the 2002 and 2008-09 Israeli military campaigns in the West Bank and Gaza. Under the leadership of Labor Zionists, the Jewish community in Palestine launched a campaign of ethnic Labor Zionists, the Jewish community in Palestine launched a campaign of ethnic cleansing in 1947-49 in order to secure a Jewish state with a Jewish majority. The consequences of the 1967 war and the Revisionists' rise to power in 1977 began a new chapter of ethnic cleansing through land confiscations, illegal settlements, and violent military campaigns against the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza. More than sixty years after the nakba, Palestinians continue to be forcefully removed from their homes, a consequence of Labor Zionism dominating the Zionist project before 1977, and the powerful influence of the Revisionists ever since. |
