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HOW DO NEOLIBERALISM AND NEO-COLONIALISM INTERACT
WITH AND PERPETUATE THE CONSTRUCTION OF SETTLER
COLONIALISM IN PALESTINE?
THE PALESTINIAN CONSTRUCTION WORKERS IN THE WEST BANK
Madeleine McCord
The general strike in Ramallah. Credit: Nasser Nasser, AP (Yanon 2021)
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ABSTRACT
This research uses the case study of Palestinian construction workers to demonstrate how
neoliberal policies in Palestine and neo-colonial dependency have alienated Palestinian
workers and perpetuate Israeli settler colonialism. This research will seek to uncover how
these forces, unleashed at the 1993-1995 Oslo Accords, have jeopardised both social and
political emancipation.
RESEARCH QUESTION
RESEARCH CONTEXT
Since 1993-1995 Oslo Accords, Israeli settler colonialism has continued unabated. Since
1993, the Israeli settler population in the West Bank has expanded from 116,300 to 400,000
in 2014 (Khalidi 2018). According to Security Council Resolution 2334 (UN 2016), this
construction and expansion of settlements violates international law. On 18th May 2021,
following strikes on Gaza, attacks on the al-Asqa mosque and evictions in Sheikh Jarrah,
Palestinian and Arab-Israeli workers held a general strike across the Occupied Territories
and Israel in protest of Israeli policies. Yanon (2021) reported to Haareetz that, according to
the Israeli Builders Association, only 150 out of 65,000 Palestinian workers came to work,
thus halting construction and creating almost $40 billion in losses. The Association’s Vice
President commented ‘we cannot build without them.’
RESEARCH PROBLEM
Both colonialism and neoliberalism have been framed by critical scholars as ‘manifestations
of a single Western structure of domination’ (Starkosch 2015, p. 33). They are both driven
by capitalism and its need for ever-expanding markets (Marx & Engels 2012, p. 77; Lenin
1917). From the current literature, colonialism today entails settler colonialism and, in
decolonised states, neo-colonialism. These colonial forms are ‘complemented by the
irresistible “logic” of neoliberalism’ (Khalidi & Samour 2011, p. 7). However, very few have
addressed all three dimensions – settler colonialism, neoliberalism and neo-colonialism – in
relation to Palestine.
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The Palestinian economy, strained by neoliberal restructuring, neocolonial dependency, and
the obstacles imposed by the settler colonial occupation, cannot generate sufficient
employment opportunities. This forces over 127,000 Palestinians, a quarter of the West
Bank’s workforce, to rely on employment in Israel and the illegal Israeli settlements in the
West Bank (ILO 2018, p. 5). 65% of these Palestinians work in construction (PCBS 2019). The
Israeli settler colonial construction project demands low-skilled labour, a shortage which
employers prefer to fill with Palestinians who, unlike Asian migrants, commute daily thus
not altering Israel’s demographic structure (UNCTAD 2019, p. 5). Palestine has been,
therefore, made dependent on the expansion of its occupation. This dynamic, and its
implications for Palestinian liberation, has not been explored in contemporary literature.
RESEARCH QUESTION
How do neoliberalism and neo-colonialism interact with and perpetuate the construction
of settler colonialism in Palestine?
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this research is not to understand why Israel continues to colonise Palestine.
Rather, it is to understand one complex dimension that is perpetuating the occupation that
is underdeveloped in research. The use of the case study of Palestinian construction workers
can unveil an often overlooked dynamic in the settler-colonial occupation and illuminate
how neoliberalism, neo-colonialism and settler colonialism interact. Moreover, it could
suggest further research into whether social emancipation is a pathway to political
liberation.
LITERATURE REVIEW
SETTLER COLONIALISM
Settler colonial theorists typically insist on a distinction between colonialism and other
forms of colonialism. In a foundational article, Wolfe (2006) finds that settlers pursue the
systematic extermination of indigenous populations through the zero-sum ‘logic of
elimination’ rather than the extraction of labour surplus or resources from indigenous
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populations. Settlers pursue the ‘permanent appropriation of land’ rather than
accumulation of capital (Lloyd 2012, p. 6). Settlers migrate, carrying their sovereignty with
them, to establish political orders, rather than to enrich a colonising metropole (Veracini
2010, p. 3; 2019, p. 570). Much of the literature compares Israel to other settler colonial
states, such as Australia or South Africa (e.g. Clarno 2017). Settler colonial theorists examine
the 1948 Nakba, the systematic ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Palestine through which Israel was
founded and almost 800,000 Palestinians were displaced (Pappe 2006), and the on-going
dispossession and displacement of Palestinians through Israel’s settlement expansion. This
interpretation of Zionism as a settler project has become common in critical scholarship, but
remains excluded from the discourse in international politics, where Israel commands
greater support (Busbridge 2018).
Very few critical scholars have developed settler colonialism by focusing on how it relates to
capitalism. Coulthard (2014) added the Marxist logic of exploitation to Wolfe’s logic of
elimination. Coulthard (2014, p. 8-9) analyses the reproduction of ‘hierarchical social
relations’ that ‘facilitates the dispossession of Indigenous peoples of their land and selfdetermination’ by reformulating Marx’s primitive accumulation thesis. State-led
dispossession does not only inaugurate capitalist accumulation, as ‘primitive’ suggests, but
is also, in the neoliberal era, a persisted force reproducing colonial and capitalist social
relations. Clarno (2017), using Coulthard’s formulation in his analysis of Israel, assesses how
settler colonialism interacts with neoliberal capitalism.
NEOLIBERALISM
Proponents of neoliberalism – trade liberalisation, marketisation, financialization,
privatisation – espouse the inherent virtues of free market capitalism. Friedman (2002, pp.
7-21), one of the “Chicago Boys” who initiated the exportation of American neoliberalism,
asserted that ‘economic freedom,’ embodied in the ‘free private enterprise competitive
economy’ termed competitive capitalism, is ‘an indispensable means toward the
achievement of political freedom.’ Neoliberalism separates and “frees” economic power
from political power. This market fundamentalism was institutionalised into the US-led
international financial institutions (IFIs). The literature criticising the hegemony of
neoliberalism, particularly its imposition on developing countries, is abundant. Harvey
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(2004) finds that neoliberalism is the ‘new imperialism’ because it entails capitalist
‘accumulation by dispossession.’
After the Oslo Accords, substantial critical literature emerged on the role that neoliberalism
had played in eschewing the peace process in favour of Israel and Israeli elites (Beinin 1998)
and also Palestinian elites (Samara 2000). There has been particular focus on the neoliberal
policies of the PNA. Khalidi (2018) examines how the self-governing authorities in Palestine,
established during the Oslo Accords, have implemented neoliberal reforms. Significant
literature emerged following the implementation of neoliberal policies by former Prime
Minister Fayyad: ‘Fayyadism’ (Tartir 2015). In 2009, Fayyad’s PNA published Ending
Ocupation, Establishing the State, an ambitious plan seeking to achieve statehood within
two years through neoliberal institution building. This plan reflected the post-Washington
Consensus – a more inclusive form of neoliberalism –, much to the delight of IFIs and
Western donors (Khalidi & Samour 2011, p. 9). Contrary to the neoliberal doctrine, however,
these scholars have found that neoliberal reforms have impeded rather than furthered
Palestinian national liberation. The reforms have made the occupation ‘less visible to
Palestinians, less costly for Israel and donors, and, in the process, more efficient’ (Kahlidi &
Samour 2011, p. 14). Tartir (2015 p. 210) finds that neoliberal Fayyadism is cooperates with
the occupying power, rather than resisting it.
NEOCOLONIALISM
Neo-colonialism enables the spread of neoliberalism. In post-colonial literature, neocolonialism describes the situation in which a ‘state appears to be independent and have
control over its dealings’ but actually is ‘controlled by outsider economics and political
influences’ (Nkrumah 1965, p. 7). The literature has focused primarily on how neo-colonial
control is usually through NGOs, international development organisations, and IFIs, such as
the World Bank and IMF, which demand structural (neoliberal) adjustments in exchange for
aid. This occurs usually in post-colonial states; much of the literature focuses particularly on
the African continent.
There is a considerable literature that focuses on the role of aid and development in
Palestine, though it is more often cast as purely neoliberal restructuring rather than neocolonial dependency. Palestine is unique in that it has a ‘deformed neocolonial governance
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pattern’ yet is still has not achieved decolonisation from settler colonialism and occupation
(Khalidi 2018, p. 385). Khalidi & Samour (2011, p. 12) find that the PNA operates in a
‘minimal “policy space.”’ Its neoliberal policies since the Oslo Accords have largely been
determined by those on whom it is dependent: its settler colonial occupier, Israel, and its
neo-colonial Western aid agencies and donors. Morrison (2020) demonstrates, international
institutions were closely involved in the Palestinian state-building project after the Oslo
Accords through policy recommendations, development projects, and donor funding.
CLASS
Nir & Wainwright (2018) identified that there is, with a few exceptions, a ‘striking lacuna’ in
(Anglophone) Marxist analyses of Israel and Palestine since 1994 and, as a result, assembled
a special issue of the journal Rethinking Marxism to reinvigorate such scholarship. The
occupation is often framed in a nationalist or religious binary that ‘reifies colonial
epistemologies’ (Seikaly 2018, p. 404), thus ignoring class dynamics.
Hanieh (2016) examines how the vast amounts of money injected into Palestine have not
aided its development, but actually aided the creation of a Palestinian elite and the dehistorization and continuation of Israel’s settler colonialism. Such neocolonial developments
require, as Fanon (1963, p. 149) noticed, the consent of the national bourgeoisie, who
become ‘the transmission line between the nation and a capitalism, rampant though
camouflaged.’ In the Rethinking Marxism special edition, Khalidi (2018, p. 383) finds that the
neoliberal restructuring of Palestine after the Oslo Accords formed a Palestinian bourgeois
class, whose material interests and prosperity are represented and protected by the PNA
political elite, at the expense of national liberation and the Palestinian masses. This status
quo, contrary to the promises of those who espouse neoliberal reforms, ‘can deliver neither
development nor national statehood.’ My research will seek to contribute to filling this gap
of analysis of class and capitalism.
PALESTINIAN CONSTRUCTION WORKERS
There is disagreement in the literature about the importance of Palestinian labour for Israel.
On the one hand, it is frequently acknowledged by settler colonial theorists that, since
Israel’s neoliberal restructuring, move to overseas manufacturing and the influx of foreign
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migrants in the 1980s, Palestinian labour has been disposable to Israeli economic growth
(Clarno 2019). Such exclusion, reified by the construction of dividing walls, fits the logic of
elimination in settler colonial studies. As a result, Chomsky (2015, pp. 72-6) asserts that
labour strikes are ineffective in achieving Palestinian liberation. On the other hand, Farsakh
(2005, p. 2) finds that, since 1994, the Occupied Territories have undergone a ‘process of
‘banutustanisation,’’ a reference to the South African bantustans that served as a de facto
reservoir of cheap labour dependent on the settlers. Therefore, Palestinians are an
important part of Israeli economic growth.
Farsakh’s Palestinian Labour Migration to Israel: Labour, Land and Occupation (2005)
examines Palestinian labour migration to Israel between 1967 and 2000. Since Farsakh’s
comprehensive research, little attention has been paid to Palestinian labour’s dependence
on Israel and the Israeli construction sector’s dependence on Palestinian labour. Yet, Israeli
settler colonialism, and its associated dispossession and construction, continues. Palestinian
labour in the West Bank is still heavily dependent on Israel; unemployment has risen
substantially since neoliberal restructuring. This dependence perpetuates their own
dispossession and occupation, as they demolish their own homes to build those of their
occupiers. There is a gap in the literature in examining how settler colonialism,
neoliberalism, and neo-colonialism intersect here in the alienation of the Palestinian
worker, which my research seeks to fill.
RESEARCH METHOD
1. DATA COLLECTION
1.1. Qualitative: semi-structured, open-ended interviews
Ryan (2006, p. 24) illustrates how narrative is valuable in understanding how people make
sense of historical processes that have impact their lives because ‘social structures and
phenomena are understood at the level of individual subjectivity.’ I will conduct interviews
with a small sample of Palestinian construction workers who migrate daily from the West
Bank to construct settlements that perpetuate their own occupation. Focusing on the microlevel, alienating impacts will illuminate how settler colonialism, neoliberalism and neocolonialism intersect in the broader-political economy. The questions will be open-ended in
order to allow for freedom and detail in responses. The questions will consider their views
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on: economic opportunities in the West Bank; the economic and personal impact of Fayyad
policies in the West Bank; the personal impact of travelling to Israel to work and construct
settlement; and the utility of general strikes.
1.2. Quantitative: survey
At the same time as conducting interviews, I will conduct a survey using online
questionnaires with a larger sample of Palestinian construction workers than the amount I
interview. These questions will be close-ended, requiring “agree,” “neutral” or “disagree”
answers. The questions will cover the same topics outlined above.
1.3. Use of qualitative secondary sources and quantitative data
I will make good use of pre-existing, peer-reviewed literature that are available to me online
and at Macquarie University library. I will also examine statistical data sets from credible
sources, such as government bureaus, international financial institutions, NGOs, and
international governmental organisations.
2. DATA ANALYSIS
I will analyse the data concurrently with the collection process. This will enable me to
respond to potentially missed research avenues.
2.1. Triangulation
In order to improve the reliability of my research, I will use ‘methods triangulation,’
comparing data gleaned from qualitative methods with data from quantitative methods
(Patton 1999, p. 1192-193).
2.2. Theory
I will analyse my findings in relation to the concepts that I outlined in my literature review:
settler colonialism, neoliberalism, neo-colonialism and class. I will primarily use Marxism
and dependency theory. Marxism focuses on the working class, ‘a class with radical chains’
(Marx 1844, p. 182). Therefore, Marxism illuminates how structural forces interact with the
every-day realities of Palestinian construction workers. In particular, Marxism examines how
capitalism leads not only to the worker’s exploitation, but also their alienation. The product
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the worker produces ‘becomes a power on its own confronting him; it means that the life
which he has conferred on the object confronts him as something alien’ (Marx & Engels
2012 p. 42). According to this theory, Palestinian construction workers are alienated from
the settlements that they build for others, for those who occupy and exploit them. In
addition, they are alienated form the place they work, the places where they used to live, as
they can only cross the Green Line by use of permits and security checkpoints. I will also
explore Coulthard’s (2014) formulation of the logic of exploitation in settler colonial
dispossession.
Whilst Marxism focuses on the Palestinian workers, dependency theory assesses the
macro-level Palestinian political economy; dependency is ‘a situation in which the economy
of certain countries is conditioned by the development and expansion of another economy
to which the former is subjected’ (Dos Santos 1970, p. 231). Combined, these theories will
be useful in uncovering the impact of structural forces. The emancipatory nature of Marxism
– its aim ‘to overthrow all relations in which man is debased, enslaved, forsaken and made
into a despicable being (Marx 1844, p. 182) – will then be useful in considering how these
exploitative, structural forces can be dismantled.
LIMITATIONS
METHODOLOGICAL
1. VIDEO INTERVIEWS / ONLINE SURVEYS
Due to the current international travel restrictions, it is likely that these interviews and
surveys will need to take place online. There may be logistical issues, such as unstable
internet connection or access to email. It may also make it difficult to gain the trust of the
respondents, which could limit the quality of the data.
2. TIME
The process of conducting interviews and of analysing and triangulating data will be timeconsuming. It will be necessary to follow a schedule.
3. DATA
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The focus of my research is on the West Bank, but many statistics combine the West Bank
and Gaza Strip into a collective Occupied Palestinian Territory.
RESEARCHER
1. LANGUAGE
I do not speak or read Arabic or Hebrew. Therefore, my access to sources will be limited to
English texts and translations. I will also require a reliable translator to engage with
interviewees and translate the survey.
2. BIAS
I recognise that my pre-existing bias and politics, in particular my support for Palestinian
liberation, may influence my research. I also understand that engaging with other people
through open-ended interviews requires subjective interpretation. However, in order to
limit my bias, I will use triangulation and work reflexively, using ‘epistemological prudence’
in my research (Leander 2008, pp. 24-25).
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