Palestine: It Is Something Colonial (Decolonizing the Mind) | Dr. Hatem Bazian
Channel: Muslim Community Center - MCC East Bay
Date: 2023-11-04

Dr. Hatem Bazian speaks about his 2017 book: "Palestine... It is Something Colonial" at Muslim Community Center - East Bay (MCC East Bay) on February 3, 2017.

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In 1902, Theodor Herzl, the founder of political Zionism, wrote to Cecil Rhodes, the Minister of Colonies for Great "You are being invited to help make history. It doesn't involve Africa, but a piece of Asia Minor; not Englishmen but Jews ... How, then, do I happen to turn to you since this is an out-of-the-way matter for you? How indeed? Because it is something colonial." The occupation of Palestine was the last settler-colonial project the British empire commissioned, and this colonial project is still unfolding more than one hundred years later. In centering Palestine's modern history around settler-colonial discourses, Dr. Bazian offers a theoretical basis for understanding Palestine while avoiding the pitfalls of the internationally failed "peace process" that, on the one hand, affirms settler-colonial rights and, on the other, problematizes the colonialized indigenous Palestinians and dispenses with the ramifications of the colonial project. 

Palestine ... it is something colonial
Hatem Bazian
2016. Pp. 327. PB. $30.00
Amrit Publishers, The Hague, the Netherlands

The British Empire’s last settler-colonial project, the Jews’ occupation of Palestine, continues to unfold, according to Prof. Bazian. He focuses on Palestine’s modern history around settler-colonial discourses and provides a theoretical basis for understanding Palestine. Importantly, he avoids the pitfalls of the failed “peace process” that both affirm settler-colonial rights and target the colonialized, indigenous Palestinians and dispenses with the ramifications of the colonial project.

Palestine, Bazian reminds us, must be approached and studied as a colonial project and not the obfuscation of a “peace process,” for this second approach completely ignores what gave rise to the present circumstances. 

Bazian offers ideas on how a de-colonial Palestine can emerge and what are the consequences for settler colonialism and the global movement for freedom and dignity.

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