Examining the Israel-Palestine Case as a Form of Settler Colonialism in the IIS UGM’s Teacup Discussion

Yogyakarta, August 24th 2021─The case of Israeli colonialism in Palestine is not over, and at the same time it always opens up new discussion spaces to investigate further. In the Teacup ‘Talk and Think about IR’ Discussion which held on Tuesday (24/8), the Institute of International Studies ‘IIS’ of the Department of International Relations of UGM invited the participants to understand the concept of Settler Colonialism from the Israel-Palestine case with Kishino Bawono, a Lecturer of International Relations of Parahyangan Catholic University. Entitled “Understanding the Concept of Settler Colonialism: Israel-Palestine Case Study”, the fourth Teacup Discussion in 2021 was hosted by Cut Intan Auliannisa Isma, Program Manager of IIS of the IR UGM, as moderator.

As an opening, Kishino Bawono invited the participants to understand the difference between classical colonialism and settler colonialism viewed from three aspects, namely colony autonomy, priorities, and attitudes towards indigenous people. In the comparison presented by Kishino, it can be seen that settler colonialism aims to make indigenous people’s lands as new homes for settlers by expropriating territories. Therefore, indigenous peoples are also seen as obstacles, in other words, become unwanted enemies in the structure of the settler community.

Settlement colonialism is based on two logics, namely the logic of elimination and the logic of dehumanization. With these two logics, the settlers, in this case Israel, view the native Palestinians as a backward group and deserve to be replaced by more civilized settlers. To provide a clearer context, Kishino also recounts the stages of Israeli settlement colonialism which are divided into three periods based on the capabilities of the Israeli authorities and the challenges Israel faces in carrying out its programs: pre-1948, 1948-1967, and 1967 until now.

Furthermore, Kishino also invited the discussion participants to view the case of Israeli settler colonialism in Palestine as two related things, namely as a structure, and as something that has been, is, and will always be in the future so that it continues to cause various implications. In closing his presentation, Kishino also offered two scenarios to see the potential end of Israeli settler colonialism in Palestine, namely the scenario of Israel’s success in absolute domination of Palestine, or the scenario of the decolonization process.