Zionism has been described by several scholars as a form of settler colonialism in relation to the region of Palestine and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Zionism's founders and early leaders were aware and outspoken about their status as colonizers; early leading Zionists such as Theodor Herzl, Max Nordau, and Ze'ev Jabotinsky described Zionism as colonization. As the theoretical framework of settler colonialism emerged in the 1960s during the decolonization of Africa and Asia, it was applied by some scholars to the Zionist colonization of Palestine. This perspective contends that Zionism involves processes of displacement and dispossession of Palestinian Arabs, akin to other settler colonial contexts similar to the creation of the United States. Critics of the characterization of Zionism as settler colonialism argue that it does not fit traditional colonial frameworks, seeing Zionism instead as the repatriation of an indigenous population and an act of self-determination. This debate reflects broader tensions over competing historical and political narratives regarding indigeneity in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the founding and legitimacy of the State of Israel.