From securitization to genocide

This paper critically analyzes the securitization of Palestinian identity within the Israel-Palestine conflict, arguing that identity, space, and human rights have been reconfigured under the logic of existential threat and state security. Drawing on Giorgio Agamben’s theory of the state of exception, Edward Said’s orientalism, Judith Butler’s ‘ungrievable lives,’ and Frantz Fanon’s colonial psychology, the paper explores how securitization justifies extraordinary measures of control and exclusion. These include legal fragmentation, spatial restructuring, surveillance, and media narratives that frame Palestinian identity as a permanent security risk. Through case studies such as the Israeli Apartheid Wall and the blockade of Gaza, the analysis shows how securitization transforms Palestinian spaces into zones of exception—areas where legal protections are suspended and domination becomes normalized. This process simultaneously erodes individual rights and reinforces psychological dehumanization, reshaping Palestinian identity under conditions of colonial violence.The paper adopts an interdisciplinary framework, incorporating critical security studies, psychoanalytic theory, and postcolonial critique, to demonstrate how securitization operates materially and psychologically. The evolution of these mechanisms is traced from the British Mandate to the Oslo Accords, illustrating how colonial logics of control persist in contemporary practices. The paper concludes by arguing that these dynamics are not just forms of control but align with conditions that meet the criteria for genocide, as defined by international law. By deconstructing the narratives and legal structures that normalize these practices, this paper contributes to broader debates on global security, human rights, and the colonial legacies embedded in modern statecraft. It calls for a rethinking of security frameworks that prioritize state sovereignty over human life and emphasizes the need for justice-driven approaches that center Palestinian dignity, rights, and liberation.