Indigeneity in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

The role of Indigeneity in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict centers on whether Israeli Jews, Palestinians, or both peoples are to be defined as Indigenous peoples. During the 21st century, many Zionists have advocated the view that Jews are the Indigenous people of the Land of Israel. Advocates of the Palestinian cause often advocate the view that "Palestinians are an occupied Indigenous people" and that "Zionism is a form of settler colonialism". Some observers consider both Jews and Palestinians to be Indigenous.

The United Nations has referred to Palestinians as the "indigenous people of Palestine".^[1][2]

Jews as Indigenous

Since the 1960s, it had became clear to Biblical Archaeologists and Bible critics, that the Israelites of whom the Jews and Samaritans emerged from, are in fact local Canaanites who didn't invade the Land of Israel as suggested by the Torah and Book of Joshua, but who have fled from the decaying Canaanite society of various city-states into safe havens in the hill country and developped a new lifestyle during the Iron Age.^[3]

Major Zionist organizations including the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the American Jewish Committee, and the Israel Action Network of the Jewish Federations of North America have stated that Jews are Indigenous to the Land of Israel.^[4][5] The International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs defines the Palestinian Bedouin as the Indigenous people of Palestine.^[6][7]

In 2015, a proposal titled "Recognition of the Jewish People as Indigenous to the Land of Israel" was submitted and approved by a 51% vote in favor at the World Zionist Congress. The bill's author stated that the bill rejects "the core anti-Israel accusation that Jews are foreign colonialists in the country and instead affirms that the Jewish people have indigenous rights to live in their ancestral home." The proposal was opposed by the liberal Zionist organization J Street, the Reform movement's ARZA, and the Conservative movement's Mercaz USA, among other organizations.^[8]

The New Zealand Jewish Council has stated that "Indigeneity and colonialism" are "not useful metaphors for Israel", citing Jewish presence in the land for thousands of years.^[9]

Palestinians as Indigenous

The Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA) have stated that "[W]e strongly protest the illegal occupation of Palestinian lands and the legal structures of the Israeli state that systematically discriminate against Palestinians and other Indigenous peoples...We reaffirm this sentiment that recognizes the rights of Indigenous Palestinians when we demand an end to the illegal occupation of Palestinian lands and a free Palestine.^[10]

The author Gabor Maté has stated that Israel and Canada have shared colonial values as they are "both countries founded on the extirpation of Indigenous cultures and the displacement of Indigenous people".^[11]

Jews and Palestinians as Indigenous

Some organizations, including the ADL, have referred to both Jews and Palestinians as Indigenous to Israel/Palestine.^[4]

The Center for World Indigenous Studies considers both Jews and Palestinians to be Indigenous peoples of Israel/Palestine.^[12]

Criticism of Indigeneity rhetoric

AIJAC, the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, has stated that "the claim Palestinians are indigenous in the same way Aboriginal Australians are indigenous is beyond ridiculous" and that "Jews are also not indigenous to the Land of Israel in the same prehistoric way that Aboriginal Australians are to Australia".^[13]

See also

• Indigenous Coalition for Israel
• Native American–Jewish relations
• Origin of the Palestinians
• Zionism as settler colonialism