Settler colonialism, neoliberal entrepreneurship, and the pacification of Palestinian women workers in East Jerusalem and Gaza

During the period between the Oslo Accords (1993–1995) and October 2023, international actors promoted neoliberal development in Palestine, framing women’s entrepreneurship as a pathway to empowerment and economic growth. However, these programs operated within a security–development nexus that prioritized Israeli interests, pacifying Palestinian women rather than addressing structural oppression. This article examines how entrepreneurship initiatives in East Jerusalem and Gaza – led by non-governmental organizations such as Jest, Mati, and Gaza Sky Geeks – functioned as tools of neoliberal counterinsurgency, diverting women from collective resistance against Israeli settler colonialism. It argues that such programs individualized survival under occupation, reinforcing resilience narratives while obscuring Israel’s systemic violence. By comparing these two distinct yet interconnected contexts, the analysis reveals how empowerment discourse depoliticized Palestinian struggles, normalizing dispossession under the guise of economic freedom. The study challenges prevailing assumptions about women’s agency in conflict zones, demonstrating how neoliberal feminism aligned with settler-colonial control. Following Israel’s escalation of the genocide in Gaza after October 7, 2023, this research underscores the urgent need to rethink reconstruction paradigms that equate entrepreneurship with liberation.