Thoughts on the U.S. and Israel’s Settler Colonialist Project in the Levant

I’m Lebanese-Syrian. I was born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1980. My mother is Syrian and my father is Lebanese. My family and I have lived through and survived Israel’s war on Lebanon, and the Lebanese civil war, not to mention the wars on and in Syria. I would like to say that I’m no stranger to the politics in my two countries and that whole region, but with how much history there is I always felt like I didn’t know enough.

I grew up in Burj-al-Barajneh, a refugee camp that was set up for Palestinians who were driven out of Palestine by Israel. Palestinians are like family to me, there isn’t much distinction, we lived and grew up together. And though I have never been to Palestine, my love for it is born from the love for my Palestinian friends and family. I unequivocally stand in solidarity with them.

Every time tensions arise I feel more compelled to learn and engage with the issues, which pushes me to learn more about the details and the fine print. And every time I do, I venture further and further down the rabbit hole of information and history. Since October 7, 2023, my thoughts have shifted from focusing solely on the history and details of how Israel was founded, to understanding settler colonialism as a project of imperialism, in Palestine.

I won’t go into detail about historical facts and narratives, but I do want to give a general overview of what I realized about the connection between the U.S. and Israel. My realization has less to do with the religious narratives of establishing a “Jewish State”, though it was informed by the history and details of those narratives.

After the Second World War and the Holocaust the founder of modern political Zionism, Theodor Herzl, proposed to the European countries with the support of Britain and the U.S. that it would be in everyone’s best interest to establish a Jewish State. A few different countries were suggested as possibilities for a Jewish State, including Uganda and Argentina, but were ultimately dismissed. Then, in 1905, the European countries and the 7th Zionist Congress all decided on Palestine to establish a homeland for the Jewish people. And of course this happened without any consultation or discussion whatsoever with the people of Palestine.

Fast forward about 50 years, Britain arms Zionists and Israeli settlers who would then go on to slaughter and murder Palestinians, destroy between 400-600 Palestinian villages, and evict around 700 000 Palestinians from their villages in 1947-1949. Then, Britain basically hands the reins to the U.S., who then takes over helping the newly found State of Israel to continue its mass slaughter and expulsion of Palestinian people from their lands.

And here we are today, May 1, 2024, seven months into a genocide perpetrated by Israel against Palestinians, resulting in unbelievable death and destruction in Gaza. I say “Unbelievable” because those of us watching and seeing it cannot believe the level of atrocities being committed against Palestinians, while many others who have been completely sold on Israeli and U.S. propaganda outright deny its happening.

One of the major questions that I and many others keep asking is “Why is the U.S. so incredibly committed to Israel and the Zionist project?”. Some cite religious reasons, referencing ancient text about the people of Israel being God’s chosen people to whom he promised a holy land. Others cite politics about the necessity of a Jewish State to ensure the safety of all Jewish people. And I don’t deny either of those reasons, but they still don’t explain the vehement commitment of the U.S. I mean why Israel? Why Jewish people? Why don’t Christians, Muslims, Hindus etc. deserve that kind of safety and protection?

So I want to add another reason that focuses more on U.S. interest, and it’s one that I’m sure many are already familiar with. The Levant (Middle-East) is rich with resources, specifically oil, or Black Gold as it is also referred to, and the U.S. has been after it for as long as history can tell. Much of the wars that the U.S. has started and been involved with in that region are all about gaining access and control over oil. It’s no wonder and totally understandable why the U.S. has so many military facilities in that region, with the Largest one being in Qatar. But what if I told you that, technically, the U.S. has an even bigger military base? One that has been operating in Palestine since the birth of Israel. Israel itself.

The thought occurred to me the more I thought about the nature of the relationship between the U.S. and Israel, after watching this old clip of U.S. president Joe Biden basically saying it himself. I mean, how else would a colonialist imperialist country like the U.S. try to protect its interests in a region than with military force? A country with a conscript army, where everyone is forced to serve at the age of 18, all of its settler citizens are armed without question while the indigenous population can barely move around in their own land. A country where the U.S. can funnel billions of dollars of its own tax payer money and provide it with the most advanced technology, high quality education, unrivalled healthcare system, and a virtually endless supply of military weapons and equipment.

Israel receives about $3.4 billion dollars per year from the U.S. for military spending, which Israel must then spend to buy weapons from the U.S. so the U.S. just gets all that money back….it’s genius! And in this way the U.S. is able to establish and impose significant control in the whole region, over resources, politics, finances…It’s as if Israel is the U.S.’s hitman and bodyguard in the Middle-East and West-Asia.

I find it so difficult to understand how both the U.S. and Israel expect us to believe that Jewish people need their own state to ensure their safety, and at the same time try to convince us that Jewish people in Israel are under constant threat. And it seems like the more we peel back the curtain the more we begin to see that this has less to do with religion and keeping Jewish people safe, and more to do with establishing and expanding the U.S. and Israel’s Zionist settler colonialist project.

The success of the Zionist settler colonialist project depends almost entirely on the continued support from the U.S. Of course other European countries like Britain, France, and Germany are also deeply involved, and also some Arab nations like Saudi Arabia and Jordan. We only have to look back at what happened during Iran’s retaliation for Israel attacking it’s the Iranian embassy is Damascus on April 1, 2024. Most of the drones that Iran retaliated with, on April 13, 2024, were shot down through coordinated efforts by Israel, the U.S., Jordan, and Saudi Arabia

The Zionist settler colonialist project has been under scrutiny since the establishment of the state of Israel, and more so in recent months. One of the most notable analysis and criticisms, that I have seen, comes from Israeli historian Ilan Pappe. Pappe attempt to contextualize and explain how we may be witnessing the beginning of the end of the Zionist project, starting with the fact that the world is just not the same as it was during the colonial times of France, Britain, the U.S. and Canada.

Personally I’m left asking and wondering that, even if the Zionist project comes to a halt and breaks down, will the U.S. give up what is essentially a giant military base for it and it’s allies in the middle-east? Or perhaps it’s the other way around, that if the U.S. decides to give up on having a giant military base in the middle-east would that be the catalyst that brings an end to the Zionist settler colonial project?