ABSTRACT
Colonialism and Israel World War II had a signifi cant impact on the politics of colonization. While most European colonization has ended, in recent times other colonial powers appeared. Some examples that Jurgen Osterhammel specifi es are Indonesian rule in East Timor, and Chinese colonial politics in Tibet under the justifi cation of a ‘civilization mission’ and historic claims.1 He also considers Israel as one of the colonial states in recent times as he explains that ‘the areas occupied by Israel in 1967 with a Palestinian population majority all have characteristics of colonialism without being fully developed systems of colonial rule’.2 He is not the fi rst to consider the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands of having characteristics of colonialism. With different degrees of interpretation, a number of scholars have regarded Israel as part of a colonial project. The views of the scholars range from tackling the roots of the problem starting from before the 1900s, whilst others talk about the 1967 lands within a colonial framework.
