Leonard Peltier’s release after 49 years of wrongful imprisonment resonates deeply within anti-colonial struggles, particularly when compared to the systematic incarceration of Palestinians under Israeli military rule. Both cases exemplify how settler-colonial states use imprisonment as a tool of repression against Indigenous resistance.
Peltier, an Anishinaabe-Lakota activist and member of the American Indian Movement (AIM), was convicted in 1977 for the killing of two FBI agents during a 1975 shootout on the Pine Ridge Reservation. His trial was riddled with misconduct, including fabricated evidence, coerced witnesses, and prosecutorial misconduct. The U.S. government made him a political prisoner, punishing him not for any proven crime, but for his role in defending Indigenous sovereignty. His nearly five decades behind bars symbolize the criminalization of Indigenous resistance in North America.
Similarly, Israel systematically imprisons Palestinians, especially those engaged in resistance against occupation. Since 1967, over 800,000 Palestinians—including activists, political leaders, and children—have been detained under military rule. Many are held without charge under "administrative detention," a practice that allows indefinite imprisonment without trial. Just as Peltier was targeted for his role in AIM, Palestinians are arrested for organizing protests, resisting land seizures, or even posting anti-occupation statements online.
Both cases highlight how settler-colonial powers use incarceration to neutralize Indigenous movements. The U.S. government sought to break AIM through the imprisonment of Peltier, just as Israel aims to weaken Palestinian resistance by jailing its leaders and youth. The goal in both cases is not justice, but deterrence—turning prisons into tools of colonial control.
Yet, despite decades of imprisonment, neither Peltier nor Palestinian political prisoners have been silenced. Their struggles continue to inspire movements for decolonization, Indigenous sovereignty, and global solidarity against settler oppression. This is exactly what we seek to unpack in A Red Road to the West Bank—the shared tools of repression used by colonial states and the enduring spirit of resistance that connects Indigenous struggles across continents.
Learn more at: www.redroadtothewestbank.com
