On Palestine, Settler Colonialism, and Apocalyptic Prophecy.

A major issue with settler colonialism ties directly to religion. It’s the idea that god has destined a people to conquer and control.

The Doctrine of Discovery said that if a land was w/o Christian faith, they were savage and should be conquered to civilize them.

This warps into Manifest Destiny in the 1840’s with the belief that God has destined the American populace to spread across the continent, using agricultural practices to conquer the land, and to exterminate or assimilate indigenous populations.

Zionism is the same idea. ‘Gods chosen people’ deserve a land to prosper, as it is their birthright by ancestry. It was “people without a land, on land without a people”. Except Palestine has existed since the 5th Century BCE, with people there much much longer. What is happening in Palestine is the effects of settler colonialism, namely a colonial power (Britain) decreeing a country to settle where another people already existed.

This is exactly what happens in settler colonialism, first assimilation, and if needed, then extermination.

Colonial powers spread across the globe following the age of exploration to claim resources, territory, and subjugate people. Look at India, Southern Asia, the Middle East, and the whole of the African continent.

Subjugation came through slavery.

In America, it was slavery and ethnic cleansing and genocide in the form of indigenous removal and extermination. Christianity was used to justify slavery, and was forced upon indigenous populations to make them less “savage”, only to then enact savagery upon them when rejected.

Now in Palestine, it was demolition and removal of Palestinian settlements, cutting off access to cultural sites, and then building walls to separate and contain them. If they don’t submit to subjugation, then extermination starts.

I am in no way an expert on Palestine — Israel, but I have an extensive background in history and know how to trace patterns of precedent through time.

This is ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and genocide rolled into one, small space.

The major powers of the world continue to put religious and colonialist precedent ahead of critical and nuanced thinking, and it led us here.

On the flip side, it’s supported widely because Christians believe so heavily in the concept of the “end of days”. The Bible’s narrative revolves around the idea of Israel as Gods chosen people, and no matter what Israel faces, they come out the other side as survivors. It is the belief of apocalyptic Christianity that this conflict that has raged since 1948 will lead to rapture.

I can’t count how many times Israel/Palestine was brought up growing up in church and how it meant only one thing: the end is near. In Christianity, that’s a good thing. It means Jesus is coming back and all the true believers ascend to heaven.

In reality, it’s religious dogma that is pushing a conflict to be supported in the hopes that the world burns. In reality, a religion based on a prophet that taught love and tolerance is being used to commit horrendous acts of extermination.

TLDR: Settler Colonialism is the root of most of today’s evils, and basing decisions off of religion leads to a superiority complex that allows people to commit disgusting crimes against humanity.

Free Palestine. Land Back. Anti Zionism.