Concerns about Israeli plans for Gaza and Palestinian displacement

[JadeHare]

https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/28/middleeast/israel-netanyahu-military-70-percent-gaza-intl

Doesn’t look like there will be much land left for the Palestinians.

And in other news, from the Guardian:

“Israel’s defence minister has said he is committed to the ethnic cleansing of Gaza through large-scale migration of Palestinians as part of Israel’s long-term plans for the territory.
Israel Katz said the government would implement a plan for large numbers of Palestinians to leave Gaza “at the right time and in the right manner”, in a statement on Wednesday marking the targeted killing of Mohammed Odeh, Hamas’s most recent military commander.
Pushing for mass departures violates Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan for Gaza, which Israel signed last year. The second point of the plan states: “Gaza will be redeveloped for the benefit of the people of Gaza, who have suffered more than enough.”
Israel’s government has promoted the prospect of Gaza without Palestinians since Trump suggested early last year that hundreds of thousands of people should leave to “clean out” the strip for reconstruction.
Last year Israel set up a bureau for “voluntary emigration” and eased travel restrictions for Palestinians who wanted to make a one-way journey out of the strip.
The forced transfer of civilian populations is a war crime and a crime against humanity. Israeli officials, including Katz, use the term “voluntary migration” to describe their ”

Excerpt From
“Israel’s defence minister says large-scale Palestinian migration from Gaza will go ahead”
Emma Graham-Harrison
The Guardian
https://apple.news/AnnlpJqlOTdW5cUbA9NEe1Q
This material may be protected by copyright.

I share your concern about Israel doing this in Gaza.

If Gaza were to be emptied of Palestinians to make room for Israelis then that would be ethnic cleansing.

That has not happened so far.

Ella said ethnic cleansing is already happening in Gaza. Thats not true. Gaza is still mainly inhabited by Palestinians.

I can remember a year ago on these threads everyone saying Israel won't stop til every last Palestinian is dead. That didn't happen either.

Accusing someone of having done something that actually hasnt happened could certainly be judged to be hateful.

As I said. Israel may have a different leader this time next year. Quite possibly a coalition with Israeli Arab groups. I hope so.

Lets stick with correct use of language please.

Ethnic cleansing is a process, which I and many others believe is already in motion and which the Israeli government have said they are planning to do.

If Gaza were to be emptied of Palestinians to make room for Israelis then that would be ethnic cleansing.
That would be ethnically cleansed.

Accusing someone of having done something that actually hasnt happened could certainly be judged to be hateful.
No one is doing that. The process has started, you are not taking on board any of the information already provided to demonstrate this or the actual words of the Israeli government. The thread was started to discuss their statement.

I don't know why you are tying yourself up in knots trying to prove we are all motivated by hate. It is untrue, offensive and exhausting.

Israel quit Gaza in 2005 forcibly removing 21 Israeli settlements and leaving Gaza "Judenrein" as they wished. So what have Hamas done since? Fired thousands of rockets over to Israel, not allowed any elections, built tunnels the equivalent of a metro system and stored weapons in schools and hospitals and carried out the 7 October atrocity knowing what the consequences would be.

Israel didn’t stop controlling the lives of people in Gaza, even controlling what items of food they would be allowed to eat. But of course no one who insists that the Palestinians had total autonomy and freedom ever wants to talk about that….

OP thank you for this thread, it heartens me to know that people still care, and are still taking notice of the horrendous behaviour of the Israeli government.

In September 2023
Netanyahu put his goal to the UNGA in which he erased Gaza

Let's all calm down and attend to our own country 's problems - of which we have plenty - and stop pretending we know what is happening in far away countries with complicated histories. How is this our problem in the UK? We just seem to make matters worse when we interfere where we're not asked or wanted. Isn't all the concern of British citizens about Palestine just a bit of a colonial hangover?

I think you’ll find the opposition to how Israel have been behaving towards the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank has been worldwide, not just the UK.

You can’t just ignore what happens in the Middle East - even if you don’t care about the Palestinian people! What happens in the Middle East does affect us one way or another, you may have heard of a current war that Israel started recently that’s having a massive effect.

But we're not insisting in the UK that other nations take the Palestinian refugees? We can question why they don't (free speech) but there are good reasons why not.

Speaking for myself I have plainly said that it's "easy to understand Egypt's reluctance".

Which takes us back to the point made earlier on by @Bringemout that "People have been talking about ethnic cleansing but it’s not happening. Not just because Israel actually won’t but also because no-one will take them". I will add in large numbers.

As mentioned previously, this may be partly for economic reasons or fear of appearing complicit in ethnic cleansing. But also it is partly because any country would fear Hamas militants in their own country - they are violent terrorists after all.

That Egypt are reluctant to take Palestinian refugees and we have discussed 3 reasons why. And they are not unusual in not wanting a huge influx of Palestinian refugees so all the talk of ethnic cleansing is a bit superfluous when no other country will take them in large numbers.

Just because they may have nowhere to go does not negate
Israel's intention

so all the talk of ethnic cleansing is a bit superfluous when no other country will take them in large numbers.
Well I suggest you take it up with Israel's defence Minister he used the term so I assume he has some sort of plan for it. It would be great if he was lying and if he was committed to rebuilding Gaza as opposed to reducing the area they can live on to 30% and threatening ethnic cleansing.

Israel’s defence minister has said he is committed to the ethnic cleansing of Gaza through large-scale migration of Palestinians

What’s that good old MN phrase that gets trotted out time and time again?

When someone shows you who they are, believe them.

@DrPrunesqualer @Boolabus You can't have ethnic cleansing if there's no where for Palestinians to go so I have no idea what Katz was on about.

Katz also said that the mass departure of Palestinians from Gaza would go hand in hand with the exclusion of Hamas from power, but that's not happening any time soon.

With elections due to be held by the end of October, it's not even certain that Katz or Netanyahu will still be in a position of power after then (hopefully not and a more moderate party takes over).

Yes. That is an odd statement you quoted in bold.

Basically, there is no ethnic cleansing because no other country will take them.

It really is time for a Goodwins alert.

Does that line you quoted mean that what the Nazis done to the Jews never happened because no other nation would not take the Jews in the '30s ?

I also saw on Sky news that 15% of Lebanon is under evac orders from the IDF. Will the poster who wrote the line you quoted say " that's ok, because they can just move to another bit of the country" ?

You can't have ethnic cleansing if there's no where for Palestinians to go
They are already being cleared from 70% of Gaza. 2 million people being pushed into 30% of the land they once lived on. It is not conducive to sustainable outcomes.

hopefully not and a more moderate party takes over
Are there any?

You are missing the point

Just because something may be unworkable does not negate the intention by Israel
and as @stirabout mentioned on another thread

I’m afraid I agree that
‘Palestinians will have their feet in the water before anything is done’

Perhaps the same will go for those denying ethnic cleansing here.

Just because something hasnt fully occurred yet or is difficult to achieve does not negate Israel’s intention
Netanyahu spoke about his intentions in 2023 before the October 7th attack

This was in an article from the Independent that I quoted on another thread:

The marginally positive news might be that an Israeli election is now on the cards for the autumn – an election that could well remove Netanyahu from power. But the autumn is a long way away, and Israel is a democracy that can throw up complex coalitions.

Holocaust inversion is not a good look.

Six million Jewish people were killed in the Holocaust.

Yet you are the poster who gave this definition of ethnic cleansing

This from your post upthread

’You can't have ethnic cleansing if there's no where for Palestinians to go ..’

Here is a definition of ethnic cleansing

‘ Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of a specific ethnic, racial, or religious group from a territory to make an area ethnically homogeneous. It involves tactics like forced deportation, intimidation, property destruction, and violence. 1, 2]
How Ethnic Cleansing Relates to the Holocaust
The Holocaust (1933–1945) was a state-sponsored genocide that encompassed extensive ethnic cleansing. "ethnic cleansing" primarily focuses on displacement’

It has nothing to do with logistics in so far as intention
and as we see
so far
Palestinians are being forceably displaced from their homes to an ever decreasing tiny bit of land

@DrPrunesqualer

The intention by Katz is not something I would defend & he is a disgusting human being. However it is factual to say that ethic cleansing isn’t happening at the moment (land grab has, but that’s a different thing) and it is hard to see how it could happen if no country would take mass numbers of Palestinian refugees. And also, Katz will hopefully not be in a position of power for many more months so his horrible intentions will leave with him if a new party takes control.

Holocaust inversion is never a good look, it is antisemitic actually.

I agree it is
but no one has done that on here

@RedTagAlan s post is not holocaust inversion

And here come the accusations of antisemitism.

There are some posters I will not answer directly here because of such accusations. Last time it was accusations of being pro Iran. Always the same. Deflection away from the subject to accusations.

Certainly that attack on your post was unwarranted
You made a perfectly reasonable analogy of an inaccurate definition of ethnic cleansing
Noted
perhaps best to not tag