Adding insult to injury: Israeli minister calls for voluntary emigration of Gazans

[Ohlalalalala]

Middle East
Israeli minister calls for voluntary emigration of Gazans
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-minister-calls-voluntary-emigration-gazans-2023-11-14/

I just saw this on Guardian live feed. Thanks for creating a thread.

"He said an area as small as the Gaza Strip without natural resources could not survive alone, and added: "The State of Israel will no longer be able to accept the existence of an independent entity in Gaza"."

😳

And there it is, plain and simple for all to see. This was never just about Hamas.

Obviously.

The crazy thing is, Gaza does have some natural resources. And it was supposed to be part of a future Palestinian state, with some way of connecting it to the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Removing Gaza leaves even less land for a Palestinian state. I can't see US and UK politicians agreeing to it, but then the enforced humanitarian crisis does mean the area is virtually uninhabitable in the immediate future.

"The comments underscore fears in much of the Arab world that Israel wants to drive Palestinians out of land where they want to build a future state, repeating the mass dispossession of Palestinians when Israel was created in 1948."

Not just the Arab world but any sane observer in the world. It's crystal clear.

It's like they're not even human beings - just an inconvenience to get rid of - like garbage piling up before it's put in the bin

Every morning expect to wake up and find that the Rafah border crossing has developed some serious malfunction and a million Palestinians are now in Egypt

Can't be long now

Does anyone remember the article where a general laid out a plan of causing a humanitarian crisis to force the residents of Gaza out?

Bezalel Smotrich, the minister mentioned in this article, is full of hate and his track record confirms that he is a bigoted, racist, Jewish supremacist. He supports the segregation of Arab and Jewish women on maternity wards. He has openly said that if a Palestinian child threw a stone, he would "shoot him, jail him or expel him". He has even told Arab lawmakers in Israel that "it's a mistake that Ben-Gurion didn't finish the job and didn't throw you out in 1948." He is a criminal.

However, I think the plan to expel Palestinians from their land (again!) is an idea that many others in Israel support as well. Absolutely sickening.

An independent Palestinian state could be established, with the goodwill of other Muslim states, using the West Bank and incorporating a section of Jordan. That way the state would be whole, instead of split between two locations with a hostile nation in between.
But Jordan would have to be willing to share with the Palestinians. Which should have happened when the West Bank was under Jordan’s control.

’In 1947 the UN General Assembly recommended that the area that became the West Bank become part of a future Arab state, but this proposal was opposed by the Arab states at the time. In 1948, Jordan occupied the West Bank and annexed it in 1950.’ Wikipedia

Ii's somewhere on this thread:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/conflict-in-the-middle-east/4928172-6500-dead-creating-a-severe-humanitarian-crisis-is-a-necessary-means-to-achieve-the-goal-gaza-will-become-a-place-where-no-human-being-can-exist-israeli-military-official

Smotrich is an extremist settler and an avid supporter of ethnic cleansing in the West Bank. He is merely taking a break from calling for the expulsion of Palestinian villagers to focus on Gaza for a change.

And, yes, this is absolutely the case.

I am NOT pointing this out in order to down-play what he is saying, on the contrary: the fact that this has been his stance all along, in any normal democracy, should have essentially seen him banned from ever becoming a government minister. In modern far-right Israel, not only is he one - he's not even the only one of his ilk!

The ideology of these people is basically nothing short of what they complain about in that of Hamas. (Which, for the record, I do not condone ... but I do not support or condone "the same thing but the other guy said it" either.)

Exactly!
Such an individual with such a track record being part of the government. I am no longer surprised at their savagery.

@NorthStarRising
Your comment is an insult to the humanity of the Palestinian people.

Imagine residents of Rome, Milan, Venice, and Florence being told to evacuate their homes and move to Sicily to continue their lives there - do you think they'd go for it? "But you're all Italians!" you could say. Better yet (and more to your point) we could tell them to move to Albania, though "the Albanians would have to be willing to share with the Italians".

Such an absurd and clueless statement to make.

Then they stay where they are and get slaughtered by the IDF whilst the UN and the EC and the demonstrators and the rest of the world squeak ineffectual protests. Which is what’s happening and about to happen right now.

How about Madagascar?

Maybe we could stand on our doorsteps on Friday evenings and clap or bang kitchenpots in support. It’s about as useful.

No, not acceptable. I do get @NorthStarRising's point in that it would be easier to create a Palestinian state out of one bit of continuous land, but these are people's homes and neighbourhoods. Gaza does have potential (especially if Israel lifts the sea blockade) and they get a government who is focused on the people's wellbeing.

Why would Israel lift the sea blockade? It’s been in place 14 years.
What’s to stop Israel strengthening the blockade, putting a DMZ along the border and refusing to supply Gaza with anything, so that their only hope is the border with Egypt.
Leaving Gaza half bombed-out ruins, half refugee camp with the disease and supply issues killing off the rest of the population without the need for Israel to do anything else?

@NorthStarRising The International community need to step up. I agree civilians should be evacuated for safety, but Israel has to be stopped from simply seizing the land. It will be a huge operation to render it habitable again, and again there must be efforts to rebuild and accountability from Israel for the damage done. Then there need to be negotiations around the future for Palestine and Israel. I realise how hopeless this all sounds, but I don't think the world can be party to the mass expulsion of residents, without making every effort to ensure they can return.

‘ I don't think the world can be party to the mass expulsion of residents, without making every effort to ensure they can return.’

Do you know how many times that’s happened somewhere in the world over the last century or so? Because I don’t. Other than a lot of times, usually unremarked by the majority of the world, or cared about by the majority.

@NorthStarRising
Yes, let's tell the Palestinians of Gaza, most of whom are already refugees from towns inside what is now Israel, that they should move yet again - because it's the most 'humanitarian' solution for them. Because getting Israel to stop its genocide is not a reasonable option. FFS.

Too many times, I'm sure. Let's do better, especially if our political representatives are involved in the process.

@HeidiInTheBigCity i was extremely worried when I read this today
How likely is this to gain traction and become a more widespread view amongst the government