Zionists Illegally Selling Stolen Palestinian land
Written by Thuraya Zaydan (@decolonize_your_classroom), Samara Attalla, Raneem Hijazi, Shafika Husseini, and Ayesha Umme Jihad
The Zionist regime has been hosting real estate events across the US and Canada. In these advertising properties, realtors and companies participate in purchasing real estate in the illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied West Bank. In Toronto and Montreal, Canada, the real estate events promoting the sale of stolen Palestinian lands were held in synagogues and were met with protests.
The Zionist settler colony is built on stolen Palestinian land. The population is imported and paid to settle on stolen land. Settler Colonialism involves a colonizing power seizing & dominating the land and peoples of another nation. This process inevitably leads to genocide and the erasure of Indigenous populations. There are five Settler Colonies right now- Australia, Canada, the USA, South Africa, and “Israel.”
This means European migrants arrived on new lands, received help from Indigenous Peoples to settle, disregarded Indigenous modes of being and thinking, and declared illegal sovereignty over new lands for their own monarchs. Then carried out genocidal tactics to eliminate the Indigenous populations and take over.
Colonizers may have retreated in regions like South Asia and many African countries when the costs surpassed the benefits. Yet, they left behind a pervasive colonial legacy—European infrastructure, languages, borders, and the chaotic aftermath of genocidal policies.
These countries face a post-colonial future, whereas settler colonies must contend with ongoing colonialism or attempt to de-colonize through rebellion or reconciliation. Post-colonies and settler colonies can all attempt to move towards Indigenization (allowing Indigenous communities to regain control).
Palestine is a unique example, having been targeted not by a pre-existing nation but by the Zionist project. To understand settler colonialism in Palestine, we need to look at WWI and the Balfour Declaration.
In 1917, Palestinian lands were “given” to a leader of the British Jewish community, Lord Rothschild, by Britain’s Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour. There are three reasons why Balfour did this:
Balfour needed American and European Jews to support Britain’s post-war debt and damages, so helping them “establish a national home” would help relations.
Palestine's rich and beautiful land was and still is of strategic imperial interest, keeping Egypt and the Suez Canal within Britain’s sphere of influence.
The Zionist community in Britain held powerful connections within the government and was intensely lobbying.
The British Empire facilitated European Jewish immigration to Palestine, artificially inflating the Jewish population from 9% to 27% by 1935- completely ignoring the rights of native Palestinians.
The Zionist Colonial Laws, like the ‘Jewish Nation-State Law,’ enshrines the idea that ‘Israel’ is the state of the “Jewish people,” effectively excluding 20% of the non-Jewish people who hold Israeli citizenship, the vast majority of them being Palestinian. According to Amjad Iraqi from Al-Shabaka, this law “encourages exclusive Jewish settlement as a “national value.”
There are many ways Palestinians are dispossessed of their homes and lands. Amnesty International has reported that Zionist authorities will illegally cut off electricity and water and target homes for repeated demolitions. Palestinians also struggle to find employment and ways to support themselves financially.
For example, the West Bank is divided into areas “A, B, and C,” with each area having a different level of Zionist control that is meant to exert colonial rule on Palestinians in different ways. Area C is where a vast majority of Jewish settlements lie and is under full Israeli control.
‘Israel’ constantly denies Palestinians from building in Area C, denying building permits and designating this land as security and firing zones. Even if Palestinians own land or property here, it can be taken away at any time or even denied building permits, causing them to build ‘illegally’ (*Illegal under the Zionist ‘judiciary’, which uses democracy to disguise its violent settler colonialism.). Once Palestinians build ‘illegally,’ their land is subject to demolition by Zionist forces.
Associated Press reported that the Zionist occupation plans to build more than 3,300 new homes in illegal settlements in the West Bank in 2024.
The Law of Return allows Jews the ability to live on Palestinian land no matter where they came from, while Palestinians who were born on that land are not allowed to visit their hometowns.
IT’S TIME FOR US TO TAKE ACTION!
Learn more about Arab and Muslim countries that are complicit in Palestinian genocide. Read and watch trusted news sources providing anti-colonial and critical analysis.
As diaspora Palestinians striving for liberation, we are living in colonizer systems to Shut Them Down - find out who is contributing to selling illegal Palestinian land in your country and mobilize to expose the illegality and stop the events from happening.
Understand the demands of Palestinians after a ceasefire. Our work isn’t done until Palestine is liberated from Zionist settler colonialism and Palestinians have the right to return home.
Cited Sources:
A How-To Guide for the Settler Colonial Present: From Canada to Palestine to Kashmir (Yellowhead Institute): https://yellowheadinstitute.org/2020/08/05/marking-the-settler-colonial-present-from-canada-to-palestine-to-kashmir/
https://pivot.quebec/2024/03/08/infiltration-dans-une-foire-immobiliere-qui-vend-des-terres-palestiniennes-a-montreal/
do not know how reliable this news agency is+its all in French but undercover journalists went to those land sale events in Canadahttps://www.youtube.com/live/DpdN4R8OZdI?si=BP06l4KrEqN5nTiQ
here's a talk about how Israeli settlements are funded by us nonprofits conducted by Adalah@Pal.esign is a group of Palestinians and allies in Canada who made strong efforts to shut down the sales events in Toronto & have receipts and evidence. Toronto was holding this real estate event in a synagogue and barring non-Jewish people from entering: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C4M-cnBgJvO/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
@ghadasasa48 is a Palestinian activist-scholar in Toronto who also followed the illegal sales issue closely and mobilized people: https://www.instagram.com/p/C4PP3Lvto8p/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Al Mayadeen English News: “Kushner urges expulsion of people of Gaza in favor of waterfront city” https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/kushner-urges-expulsion-of-people-of-gaza-in-favor-of-waterf
CBC News story: “West Bank real estate, protests at Canadian synagogue” https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/west-bank-real-estate-protests-at-canadian-synagogue-1.7148085
CBC News story: “Arrests made at a protest outside Toronto-area synagogue hosting event marketing occupied West Bank land” Federal government says it ‘strongly opposes’ West Bank settlements, does not speak to the legality of event
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/thornhill-israeli-real-estate-event-protest-1.7137131#LandBack movement
https://landback.org/
“LANDBACK is a movement that has existed for generations with a long legacy of organizing and sacrifice to get Indigenous Lands back into Indigenous hands.”https://landback.org/manifesto/
“It is the reclamation of everything stolen from the Original Peoples: Land x Language x Ceremony x Food x Education x Housing x Healthcare x Governance x Medicine x Kinship.”https://www.instagram.com/ocjusticeinitiative/reel/C4MZMY7ppkd/
The flyer for the Illegal Real Estate events: https://realestateisrael.org/
Indigenity by Al-Shabaka: https://al-shabaka.org/commentaries/using-indigeneity-in-the-struggle-for-palestinian-liberation/