West Bank settlers: Religion or land?

In Türkiye, as in the rest of the world, it has been thought that the main factor bringing Zionist settlers from other geographies to Palestinian lands was the pogroms against Jews or the Holocaust. Pogroms were social incidents that occurred during the Tsarist era with the state's tacit approval. It is said that pogroms pushed Jews to seek a new homeland. Likewise, it has been widely discussed that the Holocaust during World War II also pushed Jews living in Germany to seek a new homeland. Interestingly, the idea that Jews were seeking a new homeland formed the foundations of Zionism. In contrast, Zionism emerged as a racist ideology and, by directing itself toward a concrete goal over time, played a major role in making Palestine a Jewish homeland. Jewish groups were defined on the basis of religion but were reorganized within the framework of Zionist ideology. Because of the success achieved, after World War II, the Jewish question and Israel were always presented in a religious context. Even today, issues related to Zionism and Israel are still conducted along a religious axis.

It is quite interesting that religion-based approaches have been revived due to their success in directing Jewish communities living in many different countries and geographies toward a specific goal. As is known, at the beginning of the 1990s, the doors of a new era were opened with the thesis of a clash of civilizations. The definition and classification of civilizations at that time originated from Arnold Toynbee. According to them, the main factor determining the clash of civilizations was religion. In this way, they paved the way for a hostile attitude toward Islam and Muslims in the most remote corners of Europe and the United States. In this second period, religion-centered interpretations worked again. A religious war provided great convenience in shaping public opinion.

Although Jews lived in very different countries and geographies, they succeeded in coming together around the same goal and established a new state in Palestine. After the 1990s, they established domination over much wider geographies through religion-based oppositions. When they turned toward Iraq for the second time, it was no coincidence that Bush brought up the Crusades. They succeeded in directing the entire Western world toward the same goal, just as they had mobilized Jewish communities. For this reason, new Orientalist studies in the 1990s were shaped around portraying Islam as a source of evil. The concepts of terror and terrorist were defined on a religious basis.

While reorganizing Jews and Western societies through Zionism, a racist ideology, on one hand, they also caused a religion-based division among Muslims through studies targeting Islam. General concepts such as the West and Europe also gained power within a holistic understanding like "Christendom." Frankly, the non-Western and non-European worlds also played a major role in creating such a perception. The picture we have drawn corresponds to a highly systematic and unequal opposition. The Western and European world, as an unparalleled power that is developed, industrialized, and equipped with weapons, was reconstructing itself in this picture.

It must be seen that the picture we believe has emerged feeds on religion-based approaches and draws its power from religious discourse. Of course, this observation should also bring new and more powerful questions. We can list a few questions as follows: Did the Jews brought from different countries and geographies of the world build a new national identity on the basis of a nation-state through Zionist thought? Did Judaism as a religion truly unite them, as they claim? Have religion-based approaches succeeded, then? On the contrary, what are the main factors that brought them together, and where should these factors be sought? For example, if settlerism is the main factor that brought together Jewish communities living in different parts of the world, then it is inevitable to turn to other sources. The same applies to the concepts of the West and Europe. The holistic structure that brings them together is not religious either. It is not easy to evaluate the concepts of the West and Europe from a holistic perspective. Colonialism and imperialism are systematic structures. These structures must also be explained with their own specific concepts.

Settlerism is one of the most fundamental concepts of colonialism. When analyzing Israel, this concept must be taken as a basis. For example, today we can see that the main factor driving Zionist settlers in the West Bank is land greed. On what plane will the relationship of a Zionist who realizes he cannot satisfy his land greed with Jews and Judaism develop?