The Logistics of Occupation: Israel's Colonial Suppression of Palestine's Goods Movement Infrastructure

Abstract

This article argues that Israel's colonial domination of Palestine's logistics and goods movement infrastructure (ports, roads, and supply chain) remains a central, yet understudied, aspect of both the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine and the broader Zionist settler colonial project. Israel's targeted military destruction of Palestine's key logistical nodes (Gaza's seaport and airport) coupled with Israel's devastating immobilization programs, combine to systematically disrupt and undermine the flow of Palestinian goods through a matrix of closures, security checkpoints, and militarized border crossings. Taken together, the systematic Israeli assault on the Palestinian logistical supply chain amounts to what we describe as the “logistics of occupation,” which not only suppresses the circulation of Palestine's goods but has directly lead to the simultaneous de-development of the Palestinian economy.