Worth your reading time.
Maie
Gaza Uninhabitable: Challenging Colonial Frames of Erasure
Abdalrahman Kittana : Al Shabaka
Click here for the article
Summary
This commentary critiques the framing of Gaza as “uninhabitable,” arguing that the term functions as a colonial discourse that obscures responsibility for destruction and erases Palestinian presence and agency. It traces the historical roots of such narratives back to the concept of terra nullius, used by European imperial powers and later adopted within Zionist ideology to justify displacement. By recasting land as empty or lifeless, colonial powers legitimized conquest while denying the existence of thriving Indigenous communities.
The article highlights how the idea of “uninhabitability” resurfaced through UN reports in the 2010s, which, though based on real infrastructure collapse, risked depoliticizing the crisis by framing it as inevitable rather than as the outcome of Israeli blockade, occupation, and repeated military assaults. Drawing on Achille Mbembe’s concept of necropolitics, the author explains how Gaza has been rendered a “death-world,” where conditions of unliveability are deliberately engineered.
Instead of accepting narratives of collapse, the article calls for a shift toward the concept of “re-habitability.” This perspective emphasizes Palestinian persistence in rebuilding homes, cultivating land, and sustaining life amid systematic destruction. Re-habitability is presented as both a material practice and a political intervention, resisting erasure while affirming Palestinians’ rights to remain, return, and rebuild. The piece concludes that framing Gaza as permanently uninhabitable serves colonial aims, while recognizing re-habitability affirms dignity, sovereignty, and the possibility of regeneration.
Maie
Gaza Uninhabitable: Challenging Colonial Frames of Erasure
Abdalrahman Kittana : Al Shabaka
Click here for the article
Summary
This commentary critiques the framing of Gaza as “uninhabitable,” arguing that the term functions as a colonial discourse that obscures responsibility for destruction and erases Palestinian presence and agency. It traces the historical roots of such narratives back to the concept of terra nullius, used by European imperial powers and later adopted within Zionist ideology to justify displacement. By recasting land as empty or lifeless, colonial powers legitimized conquest while denying the existence of thriving Indigenous communities.
The article highlights how the idea of “uninhabitability” resurfaced through UN reports in the 2010s, which, though based on real infrastructure collapse, risked depoliticizing the crisis by framing it as inevitable rather than as the outcome of Israeli blockade, occupation, and repeated military assaults. Drawing on Achille Mbembe’s concept of necropolitics, the author explains how Gaza has been rendered a “death-world,” where conditions of unliveability are deliberately engineered.
Instead of accepting narratives of collapse, the article calls for a shift toward the concept of “re-habitability.” This perspective emphasizes Palestinian persistence in rebuilding homes, cultivating land, and sustaining life amid systematic destruction. Re-habitability is presented as both a material practice and a political intervention, resisting erasure while affirming Palestinians’ rights to remain, return, and rebuild. The piece concludes that framing Gaza as permanently uninhabitable serves colonial aims, while recognizing re-habitability affirms dignity, sovereignty, and the possibility of regeneration.
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