Israel’s Intelligence Minister calls for “voluntary resettlement of Palestinians elsewhere” away from Gaza

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Wed, 22 Nov 2023 - 12:41 GMT

BY

Wed, 22 Nov 2023 - 12:41 GMT

Cairo – 21 November 2023:  As the international world still calling and negotiating for a truce agreement with hopes to end the Palestinian bloodshed in Gaza that killed so far more than 13.000 people since October 7; the Likud Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel has ‘thought out of the box’ to come up with a solution on “how to proceed the day after Hamas is defeated” …and what to do with “the two million people who still live in Gaza”.

In an article, the Israeli official published in ‘the Jerusalem post’ November 19, she called the world to promote for “the voluntary resettlement of Palestinians in Gaza, for humanitarian reasons, outside of the Strip.”

“It is important that those who seek a life elsewhere be provided with that opportunity. Some world leaders are already discussing a worldwide refugee resettlement scheme and saying they would welcome Gazans to their countries. This could be supported by many nations around the world, especially those that claim to be friends of the Palestinians.

This is an opportunity for those who say they support the Palestinian people to show these are not just empty words.” Gamliel stated in her article.

She added: “Instead of funneling money to rebuild Gaza or to the failed UNRWA, the international community can assist in the costs of resettlement, helping the people of Gaza build new lives in their new host countries.”

Since the beginning of the war that Israel has waged over the civilians in the Gaza strip claiming that they were only targeting Hamas, up to 1.7 million Palestinians have been displaced, according to the UNRWA statistics.

The Israeli authorities have urged the Palestinians to leave the north of Gaza and head south, as they were claimed to be ‘safe areas.”

Shortly after the Israeli attack against the strip, Israeli military commander Col. Richard Hecht urged Palestinians in Gaza to get out of the strip and head to Egypt.

Also, according to “the times of Israel” in an article published on October 31, Israel acknowledged that one of its ministries drafted a wartime proposal to transfer the Gaza Strip’s 2.3 million people to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office played down the report compiled by the Intelligence Ministry as a hypothetical exercise — a “concept paper.”

The Israeli call was strongly opposed by the Egyptian authorizes from the very first moment of announcing it. Egypt has described the Israeli suggestion as an attempt "to liquidate the Palestinian cause”, in addition to the fact that the Palestinians themselves rejected the idea and stressed that they would not leave their land no matter what happened.

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry described a concept paper issued by the Israeli Ministry of Intelligence as “ludicrous” in an interview with CNN.

Shoukry said he did not speak to Israel or any party that may raise such “ridiculous” proposal and does not plan to do so, adding that the displacement issue violates the international humanitarian law.

On October 18, during a joint press conference with the German Chancellor Ulf Schulz at the presidential headquarters in Cairo, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al Sisi stressed that Egypt is a sovereign state and it rejects such attempts [displacing Palestinians into Sinai], adding that “if necessary, I can ask the Egyptians to come out and express their rejection to the refuge idea, and then you will see millions of Egyptians are ready to demonstrate as an expression of their rejection of the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza.”

President Sisi added that “Egypt rejects the military solution to the Palestinian cause or any attempts to forcibly displace the Palestinians from their land, or for this to come at the expense of the region,” pointing out that Egypt will remain in its position in support of the legitimate Palestinian right to its land.

President Sisi reiterated Egypt’s rejection to the idea of pushing Palestinians to seek refuge in Sinai, saying “Displacing Palestinians from Gaza Strip to Sinai means transferring the conflict and the killings from Gaza to Sinai, where Sinai becomes a base for launching operations against Israel, and in this case, Israel will have the right to defend itself, so it directs its strikes to the Egyptian lands.”

He further added, “If Israel is thinking of displacement as a solution, there is the Negev desert in Israel, where they can transfer the Palestinians to until Israel finishes its announced military operation against armed groups, and then return them.”

The Israeli’s official suggestions comes along with other extreme opinions have been said lately regarding the Gaza strip crisis.

Earlier in November, the far-right Israeli Minister Amichai Eliyahu said in statements that one of Israel’s options in the war against Hamas could be to drop a nuclear bomb on the Gaza Strip.

in response to a radio interviewer who said to the minster: “Your expectation is that tomorrow morning we’d drop what amounts to some kind of nuclear bomb on all of Gaza, flattening them, eliminating everybody there.”

Eliyahu responded: “That’s one way”.

“The second way is to work out what’s important to them, what scares them, what deters them… They’re not scared of death.” The Israeli official added.

When the minister was asked about the 240 hostages currently held in the Gaza he said: “I pray and hope for their return, but there is a price to be paid in war”. “Why are the lives of the abductees, whose release I really want, more important than the lives of the soldiers and the people who will be murdered later?”

The Israeli minister also voiced objection to allowing any humanitarian aid into Gaza, saying “we wouldn’t hand the Nazis humanitarian aid".

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the Israeli statements offers evidence of the deviation and extremism that has befallen some decision-makers in the Israeli government.

The international community must decisively confront the rhetoric of violence, hatred, and racism, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry Ahmed Abu Zeid posted on his X account. "While the world is talking about nuclear disarmament and its dangers, some are thirsty for more destruction and killing.”

 

 

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