Recycling Colonialism: How the West Seeks to Legitimize Israel’s Occupation of Palestine

It seems that the Western colonial mindset has changed little since the 19th century. Its ideologues still seek new justifications to impose control over peoples they deem unworthy of independent existence. The article by Thane Rosenbaum in Jewish Journal is just another example of the ongoing attempts to distort reality—portraying the victim as the aggressor and justifying Israel’s crimes under the guise of “civilization” and “development.” However, like other Zionist propaganda, it conveniently ignores an undeniable truth: Palestine is not for sale, and its people are not pawns in the new colonial game.

Recycled Zionist Fallacies: Does Anyone Still Believe Them?

Rosenbaum begins with a familiar Western media trope: Palestinians have repeatedly rejected peace and turned down five offers for statehood. But he deliberately ignores that these so-called offers were nothing more than schemes to legitimize land theft, reducing the Palestinian cause to fragmented concessions that resemble nothing more than an open-air prison.

What “state” is he referring to? One without sovereignty, without an army, without resources, and entirely dependent on the occupier’s mercy? The so-called “two-state solution” has never been a real pathway to peace but rather a trap designed to legitimize a colonial entity imposed by force, while leaving Palestinians begging for basic rights like water, electricity, and freedom of movement—all controlled by the occupier.

The Colonial Logic: “Accept Occupation or Be Displaced”

With arrogance, the author suggests that the “solution” for Gaza is the mass relocation of its residents to Egypt, Jordan, or other Arab countries. Yet, he conveniently ignores that forced displacement is a war crime under international law. To him, Palestinians are not human beings with rights; they are merely an “obstacle” to the Zionist project.

He further attempts to justify this absurd proposal by comparing Palestinians to Syrian refugees in Europe, disregarding the crucial fact that Palestinians did not migrate to Gaza or the West Bank—they are its indigenous inhabitants. They were forcibly expelled from their homes in 1948 and continue to be denied their right of return to this day.

Even more outrageously, he claims that Israel has a stronger “ownership claim” to the land, dismissing historical records proving that Palestine was home to Arab inhabitants long before British colonial rule planted the Zionist entity by force. Has he forgotten that most Israeli settlers today are European, Russian, and American immigrants, while the original Palestinian inhabitants remain exiled from their own homes?

Trump’s Plan: The New Face of the 1948 Nakba

What Trump proposes is not an “alternative vision” as Rosenbaum claims, but rather a continuation of the very mindset that caused the 1948 Nakba—only this time under an economic disguise. His idea of turning Gaza into a “Riviera” or a “casino” envisions development without its people.

Trump’s logic mirrors that of European colonizers in Africa, who argued that the problem wasn’t occupation itself, but rather the native populations who resisted it. The solution? Displacement or “re-education” to make them more “civilized.” This settler-colonial mentality perceives land as the rightful property of its occupiers and views the indigenous population as an inconvenience to be removed.

The Truth the West Fears: Occupation is Doomed to Fail

What Rosenbaum and other pro-occupation voices refuse to acknowledge is that the Zionist project faces an existential crisis. Despite overwhelming Western support, Israel has failed to guarantee security for its people. Contrary to his claims, Palestinian resistance has not been defeated—it has proven to be a formidable force that cannot be erased from the equation.

His argument that Palestinians are “not ready” for a state is just another variation of the racist colonial mindset that once claimed Algerians were unfit to govern themselves before their revolution and Black South Africans were incapable of self-rule before the fall of apartheid.

Conclusion: No Legitimacy for Occupation, No Compromise on Rights

Through paid propagandists, the West continues its efforts to distort reality and justify Israel’s colonial expansion. But the truth remains clear: Palestine belongs to its people. All attempts to uproot them will fail—just as they have failed in the past.

Rosenbaum and his likes may believe they can manipulate global opinion with political realism rhetoric, but history has taught us a simple lesson: No occupation lasts forever. Just as French rule collapsed in Algeria and apartheid crumbled in South Africa, Zionist colonialism will ultimately meet the same fate—no matter how many new justifications its defenders try to invent.