AN ONGOING PROJECT Because Zionism sought to establish a Jewish state on land largely populated by non-Jews, ethnic cleansing was central to the movement. Importantly, this process of forcibly removing Palestinians from their homes and taking over their land not only continues to this day, but has arguably reached its zenith, which is why Palestinians often describe their struggle as an “ongoing Nakba”. In other words, 1948 and the establishment of the state of Israel can be seen to mark the beginning of the formalisation of the Zionist project, rather than its end. This has been demonstrated through:
Home demolitions
Israeli settlement expansion
Denying Palestinian refugees the right to return to their homes
Genocidal assault on the Gaza Strip
Palestinians would further attest that Zionism has always had within it the potential to be genocidal. Because of its essential goal of taking over the maximum amount of land in historic Palestine with the minimum number of Palestinians on it, the Israeli state operates with the constant displacement and dispossession of Palestinians, which taken to its logical conclusion is geared towards the effective destruction of Palestinians as a national group. Zionists may indeed see the current moment as their greatest opportunity to conclude their project in its most expansive form, which has always been denied by Palestinian resistance.
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