Israeli calls to expel Palestinians are war crimes: PIJ

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Al Mayadeen
1 Jan 2024 23:53
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The Palestinian Islamic Jihad has put out a statement regarding continued talks about the expulsion of Palestinians to neighboring Arab countries.

Israeli extremist officials Itamar Ben-Gvir (L) and Bezalel Smotrich (R) look on during the swearing-in ceremony for Israeli lawmakers at the Knesset, in occupied al-Quds, occupied Palestine, on November 15, 2022. (AP)

Statements calling for the forced expulsion of Palestinian people, made by members of the Israeli government, constitute war crimes, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) said in a statement on Monday.

The Palestinian Resistance movement condemned the inaction surrounding such Israeli actions or remarks, saying that "silence on these Zionist practices means implicit encouragement for the entity to pursue its criminal agenda which will come at the expense of Arab national security."

The PIJ held US President Joe Biden's administration responsible for the potential results of the expansionist Israeli policy, as it encouraged the Israeli occupation to execute its scheme of ethnic cleansing under the guise of "voluntary immigration".

Moreover, the statement stressed the need to confront the Israeli war on Gaza aimed at forcibly displacing Palestinians.

The statement comes in the context of remarks made by Israeli extremists, including Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

On Sunday Smotrich said Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip should leave and make way for Israeli settlers, who could "make the desert bloom."

"What needs to be done in the Gaza Strip is to encourage emigration," Smotrich told the Israeli Army Radio.

The extremist Israeli minister made the remarks to reaffirm the Israeli occupation's expansionist and racist nature, which has been translated into the occupation military's actions in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank.

Reinforcing racist Zionist discourse are reports on a meeting between former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and Israeli officials, in which discussions centered around the possibility of appointing Blair as a "mediator" between "Tel Aviv" and some Arab governments to persuade them to "take in Gazan refugees."

On its part, the Palestinian Authority's President's Office warned of attempts to "complete the Balfour Declaration," in reference to Britain's role in setting up the Israeli settler colonial project on Palestinian territories.

The Presidency strongly rejected such measures, stressing that Blair is considered to be "an unwelcome person in the Palestinian territories.”

“We will demand that the British government not allow this meddling with the fate and future of the Palestinian people, and we will also demand that the Secretary-General of the United Nations do what is possible in order not to allow such actions that violate international law and international legitimacy, which is considered an interference and an endeavor that only serves Israel’s interests and harms the Palestinian people and their rights by pushing them to abandon their land,” the statement read.