Algorithmic Dominance: AI and the Israeli Occupation

Abstract

Artificial intelligence has become a defining element in how states exercise power, increasingly shaping the organization of conflict, surveillance, and governance. This thesis examines how AI operates as a mechanism of control and domination within the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Building on the theoretical frameworks of asymmetric warfare and data colonialism, it develops the concept of algorithmic dominance to describe how predictive systems, automation, and data extraction translate technological power into enduring forms of governance. The central hypothesis guiding the research is that Israel’s use of AI technologies serves as mechanism of control and domination, thereby reinforcing asymmetrical power relations and sustaining the occupation. To investigate this, the thesis employs a qualitative and interpretive research design grounded in Qualitative Content Analysis (QCA). A corpus of thirty- five publicly available sources, including investigative journalism, NGO and UN reports, and academic studies, were analyzed through a hybrid deductive–inductive coding process that identified recurring discursive patterns and structural mechanisms through which AI is framed and deployed. The analysis revealed four interrelated themes that illustrate how AI functions as an instrument of domination: surveillance as a mode of governance, predictive control and anticipatory violence, algorithmic opacity and accountability gaps, and the fusion of policing and warfare. Together, these findings show how artificial intelligence transforms both the conduct of warfare and the infrastructures of governance that sustain occupation and control within continuous networks of data and prediction. Beyond the Israeli case, the study contributes to broader debates on technology and power by demonstrating how algorithmic systems reshape sovereignty, visibility, and domination in asymmetric conflicts, offering a critical perspective on the political implications of artificial intelligence in the twenty- first century.