wl-4960-Israeli–Palestinian Conflict: In Search of an Old/New Paradigm?

The current Gaza war has again brought the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to international headlines. The tragedy that is unfolding in Gaza and the extreme powerlessness of the international community to rein in Israel and the US is appalling but not surprising. What is different this time is the fact that the emergent popular discussion is gradually steering away from the cognitive consensus that reinforces Israeli perspective on what can and cannot be said on this conflict. Apart from this war, two factors have made this break possible. First, Israeli democracy has recently been subjected to revision by mainstream human rights organisations calling it Apartheid. Second, since it is still attached within the Oslo framework, the dominant discourse has reached its limit in terms of explaining the recurrence of regressive trends in this conflict. In its place, settler colonialism has emerged as an alternative paradigm that adequately explains these trends. Unless the straightjacket of the dominant discourse is rescinded, violence will forever hang like a curse on this conflict.