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Israeli Gaza 'concept paper' mirrors 1948 Palestinian Nakba

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies + Financial Times
31 Oct 2023 09:56
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The Palestinian President's spokesperson says the mass displacement of Gazans is tantamount to a declaration of war.

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern occupied Palestine, Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2023 (AP)

A recent report by AP shows that the Israeli Intelligence Ministry has drafted a plan detailing a wartime proposal for the forcible displacement of the 2.3 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip into the Sinai peninsula.

The Israeli occupation Prime Minister downplayed the proposal of the mass displacement as being simply a hypothetical "concept paper", however, its concluding remarks eerily mirrored the brutal events of the 1948 Nakba.

This proposal of systematic dispossession and displacement has put additional strain on the occupation's relations with Ramallah and Cairo.

“We are against transfer to any place, in any form, and we consider it a red line that we will not allow to be crossed,” Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said, commenting on the report. “What happened in 1948 will not be allowed to happen again.”

Mass displacement, the PA spokesman said, would be "tantamount to declaring a new war.”

Director of #AlMayadeen's office in occupied #Palestine, Nasser al-Laham, announced that the Israeli occupation forces stormed his house, assaulted his wife, and detained his two children, Bassel and Bassil, only to release the latter later.

The IOF arrested over 50… pic.twitter.com/oQigw511HF
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) October 31, 2023

Similarly, the Egyptian authorities fear an engineered wave of forcibly displaced Palestinians by "Israel".

Egyptian officials didn't comment on the report, however, earlier President el-Sisi addressed this prospective issue, saying the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza could threaten the 1979 "peace treaty".

The report, which dates back to October 13, was first published by Sicha Mekomit, an Israeli news site.

The report contends that changing the "civilian reality" in Gaza would be necessary to neutralize the "threat of Hamas" and optimize Israeli security.

Based on that premise, the report proposes:

Forcing Gaza’s civilian population out to tent cities in northern Sinai
Building permanent cities and an undefined humanitarian corridor
Establishing a "security zone" in occupied Palestine to prevent the displaced Palestinians from entering.

In this context, a report by the Financial Times revealed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to convince European leaders to put pressure on Egypt to accept the Palestinians "Israel" forcibly displaces from Gaza, according to people briefed on the discussions.

The idea, which he put forward in meetings with European officials last week, was floated by countries including the Czech Republic and Austria in private discussions that led up to a summit of EU leaders on Thursday and Friday, those people told the Financial Times.

However, key European countries, notably France, Germany, and the UK, have dismissed the proposal as unrealistic, pointing to Egyptian officials’ consistent resistance to the said idea, even temporarily.

“Netanyahu pushed quite hard that the solution was for Egyptians to take Gazans at least during the conflict,” a Western diplomat said. “But we didn’t take it very seriously because the Egyptian position is and has always been very clear and they just won’t do it.”

A second Western diplomat said they believed the pressure of a continued Israeli aggression on Gaza could yet lead to a shift in stance. “That’s the only thing that can be done . . . so now the time is to put increased pressure on the Egyptians to agree,” they said.

Back on October 10, senior Egyptian security sources confirmed that the Israeli occupation entity sought to propose and "recommend" corrupt "suggestions", noting that among them was the suggestion to "settle the people of the Gaza Strip in Sinai."

Security sources told the Cairo News Channel that these suggestions were "rejected and will continue to be rejected by Egypt," stressing that the entirety of the Palestinian people stands against any such suggestions.

On his part, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said this month that his country rejected “any attempt to liquidate the Palestinian issue by military means or through the forced displacement of Palestinians from their land, which would come at the expense of the countries of the region."

Last week, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian pointed out that "the ultimate goal of the fake and occupying Israeli regime is the forced displacement of the residents of Gaza and the West Bank to the Sinai region of Egypt and parts of Jordan."

Amir-Abdollahian made this statement in a phone call with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry as part of diplomatic consultations with officials from Islamic countries regarding the need to stop the war crimes committed by the Israeli occupation against the people of Gaza.

The top Iranian diplomat once again announced the readiness of the Iranian Red Crescent to send humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza through Egypt.

He indicated that "Tel Aviv is trying to establish a Palestinian state, outside the historical land of the Palestinians, but resistance has been the main barrier to the realization of the troubled dreams of the Zionists."

Earlier today, UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian Refugees, cautioned that the restricted number of aid vehicles entering Gaza is inadequate to address the "unprecedented humanitarian requirements" in the region.

"The handful of convoys being allowed through Rafah is nothing compared to the needs of over two million people trapped in Gaza," UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini told the UN Security Council, referring to the sole border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

As per UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, a total of 33 trucks transporting water, food, and medical provisions arrived in Gaza via the Rafah crossing on Sunday.

Prior to the ongoing Israeli aggression, "Israel" enforced a blockade on Gaza, which includes land, air, and sea restrictions, resulting in severe repercussions for Palestinian civilians. The occupation controlled everything that entered Gaza, including fuel and medicine, and Gaza used to receive approximately 500 trucks daily.

"The system in place to allow aid into Gaza is geared to fail unless there is political will to make the flow of supplies meaningful, matching the unprecedented humanitarian needs," Lazzarini said, urging the Security Council to demand an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.

Lazzarini said 64 of his UNRWA colleagues had been killed in just over three weeks, "the highest number of UN aid workers killed in a conflict in such a short time."

He mentioned that a United Nations employee named Samir, along with Samir's spouse and eight children, had lost their lives shortly before his statement.

"My UNRWA colleagues are the only glimmer of hope for the entire Gaza Strip... but they are running out of fuel, water, food, and medicine and will soon be unable to operate," said the Swiss-Italian official.

"An entire population is being dehumanized," he warned.