Israel A Colonial Project That Will Not Last Forever: Author
The relentless Israeli military campaign in the besieged Gaza Strip since October 7, which has killed more than 11,000 Palestinians, has raised awareness about the Palestinian cause and Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands in the past seven decades.
The Israeli attacks started after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas launched an unprecedented attack against occupied territories on October 7 in response to increased Israeli violence against Palestinians and desecration of al-Aqsa Mosque by fanatic settlers.
“This operation is a game changer,” Sandew Hira, a scholar focusing on colonialism, told IQNA.
“It's not just an operation it's not another attack it's one that changes of course of history. Why? because this attack is the prelude to a bigger operation where Palestine might be free not within a decade of two or three or four but maybe within a few years,” he said.
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He noted that the global pro-Israel propaganda machinery led by the Western Empire failed to “stop a resolution in the United Nations and the overwhelming majority of Nations support a ceasefire,” referring to the resolution passed by the UN General Assembly in late October.
“They couldn't stop that people come in millions in the street all over the world especially in the Global South even in the Global North they can't stop it and that failure of the propaganda shows you that we are in a place in world history where in our lifetime we will experience fundamental changes,” he added.
Founder of Zionism said Israel was a ‘colonial’ project
Asked if Israel can be described as a colonialist project, the scholar said this is what Israelis themselves admit.
The founder of Zionism Theodor Herzl wrote a letter in 1902 to Britain’s Cecil Rhodes, saying that they wanted to set up something in Palestine and answering his own question of why is turning to Britain, he said “because it is something colonial,” Hira explained.
“Herzl, himself, positioned the establishment of the state of Israel as a colonial project … so if they themselves see it as colonialism why would we not see it as colonialism?
“And what we see in history … colonialism will not live forever and that is what you're going to see now happening in Western Asia.”
A growing number of people from universities to social media are seeing Israel as a “colonial project” and as an “apartheid state,” he said, noting that Western propaganda machinery is having a “hard time putting Israel as a victim here.” However, many people are not buying this narrative anymore, the scholar added.
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Referring to his prediction in one of his books that Israel will cease to exist in 20 to 30 years, Hira said he now has to modify this. “I'm not sure if Israel will exist in four years.”
‘Fantasy’ of normalization
Asked about the prospects of normalization of ties between the Israeli regime and regional states, he said, “There will never be any normalization after this.”
Following the “genocide that is taking place now in Gaza,” even thinking about normalization with Israel is a “fantasy,” the scholar said.
Interview by Mohsen Haddadi
Sandew Hira is an independent scholar and activist who writes and teaches about the history and decolonization of Suriname and other colonized regions. He has a degree in economics and has published many books and articles on colonialism and race relations. He is the director of two institutes that focus on scientific research and education on decolonization. He is also a co-editor of a book series and a visiting lecturer at a university in Suriname. He has given talks in various countries and is working on a new study that critiques scientific colonialism and proposes a new world civilization.
The views and opinions expressed in this interview are solely those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the view of the International Quran News Agency.
