Why does fawaz turki refer to the israelis as colonizers?

Answer 1

According to those who believe like Fawaz Turki, the entire idea of Israel is a modern colony in the Middle East. Prior to 1900, less than 10% of the population of what would become Mandatory Palestine was Jewish and the Fellahin or Settled Arabs were the majority. There were also a large percentage of Turks, Circassians, Bedouin, and Druze, but the Settled Arabs were still the majority. Zionist Jews or those Jews who desired to create a Jewish State cleverly manipulated the Great Powers, especially the United Kingdom into giving them the right to immigrate to Mandatory Palestine in large numbers without consulting the rights of the Fellahin. Additionally, Zionist Jews purchased large swaths of land from Turkish nobility without consulting the Fellahin who lived on that land for centuries but did not properly own it. As a result, numerous Fellahin were forced off of their land during the Yishuv period, Yishuv being the word for a Zionist Jewish settlement in Mandatory Palestine. The Jewish population in Palestine continued to rise until 1939 when the Fellahin successfully petitioned the British government to close off Jewish Immigration.

However, the Jewish minority had grown sufficiently large in Mandatory Palestine that this combined with the Holocaust was able to earn international sympathy for the Zionist cause of establishing a State for the Jews in a land where the Jewish population had literally "just" shown up. Compare this to Rhodesia which was a state that declared independence to be ruled by the White Settlers of Rhodesia in 1960 that had been on that land. Rhodesia was so vilified in the international community that in only 20 years, it reverted to become the African nation of Zimbabwe. However, in that case, the White Settlers had come to Rhodesia as early as 1860, which makes them far more "local" than the Zionist Jews in Palestine in 1948 (most of whom were in the country for less than 30 years). The attempt by the Yishuv to form a state could not be tolerated and the Arabs formed militias to prevent the Yishuv from asserting control over land that had been historically settled by the Arab people. As a result, war broke out between the Zionist Haganah, Palmach, Irgun, and Lehi militias and the Fellahin, represented by the Holy War Army and the Arab Liberation Army. The neighboring Arab countries joined in when the Yishuv declared independence as Israel to help to the Arab militias. Subsequent to Israeli Independence, there was the eventual Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip which further reduced and minimized the power and presence of the Fellahin through numerous acts, such as the Settlements which are Israeli colonies in the West Bank and, formerly, the Gaza Strip.