Yeah but for most people who aren't knowledgeable about history, the connotation isn't necessarily negative.
It should be, but it isn't. "Settlers of Catan" is probably one of the most popular board games ever, and it's all just friendly people trading sheep and wood and shit.
I would argue that settlers is whitewashing colonization since it has all the hallmarks of exploiting a foreign land and shipping the goods abroad but it's very conveniently unsettled.
Like how the american frontier was claimed to be unsettled land just waiting to be settled.
You're gonna have to explain this take. Illegal state-sponsored settlements in the West Bank are absolutely evil. There's nothing weird about describing it that way.