Trump Gaza 'takeover' plan could amount to ‘ethnic cleansing’: HRW

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
6 Feb 2025 17:55
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Adam Coogle, Deputy Middle East Director at Human Rights Watch, has expressed uncertainty about the plan’s implementation but stressed that the proposal itself is "very concerning".

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A young Palestinian kid carries water along the destruction caused by the Israeli air and ground aggression in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (AP)

Human Rights Watch warned that US President Donald Trump's proposal to relocate over a million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip could amount to "ethnic cleansing" if implemented.

Adam Coogle, Deputy Middle East Director at Human Rights Watch, expressed uncertainty about the plan’s implementation but stressed that the proposal itself is "very concerning".

“If it were to transform into state policy, it would potentially amount to ethnic cleansing. And if done with intent, it would be forced displacement. And if that forced displacement was done as part of a systematic and widespread attack against the civilian population as a matter of state policy, it would actually be a crime against humanity," he explained.

Coogle also highlighted that while countries are required to consider individual asylum applications, “they do not have an obligation to participate in the forced displacement of the entire population of the Gaza Strip.”

Israeli media: Trump's Gaza takeover plan not feasible

Trump's plans to forcibly displace Palestinians from Gaza could be a "gimmick" that displays his "out-of-the-box" thinking, but it's not a realistic plan especially when no Palestinian factions agree to it, according to the arab affairs analyst at Yedioth Ahronoth.

Trump's plan for the "voluntary" emigration of Palestinians created a new fantasy in "Israel", the news website added. Many Israelis "want to see Gaza leveled to the ground, the Palestinians disappearing, and the Strip, which was a beehive for the Israeli army for decades, becoming a prosperous American Riviera," as reported by Ynet. "It's a real dream, it has one caveat however, it is not realistic, impossible, and implausible to implement."

The newspaper went on to add, "There is no Palestinian entity that will agree to cooperate with Trump's plan for migration or transfer, especially since any mention of migration or departure immediately aligns with the greatest collective catastrophe of the Palestinian people – the Nakba of 1948."

It emphasized, "Even the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, aligned with Hamas yesterday and strongly declared his opposition to it."

Military action, no matter how aggressive, will lead to more destruction and death in Gaza, but not the surrender of Hamas, as long as there is no authoritative alternative to it, nor even its dismantling, as per the website.

It will only lead to more deaths of IOF soldiers who will continue the war without a realistic goal, it added.

It further emphasized that "leveling the Gaza Strip to the ground and the departure of its residents is not a realistic goal, but rather a neat gimmick from an American president who wants to prove how different he is from his predecessor and others. However, it is a joke that has no path to implementation."

Ynet added that the ceasefire deal is progressing, and negotiation teams will meet to resume talks in Doha. It remains unclear whether these discussions will lead to a second phase of the deal, but one thing is certain: So far, Hamas still maintains control in the Gaza Strip.

Global outrage around Trump's plan

Shortly after Trump announced his plans for Gaza, global backlash immediately followed, with several countries standing up against the plan calling for the forced displacement of Gazans to other countries like Egypt and Jordan.

Several European countries condemned the plan, calling it illegal and emphasizing the importance of letting the Palestinians decide what will happen to them.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock firmly opposed the idea, emphasizing that removing Gaza's civilian population would exacerbate suffering and escalate tensions. "A displacement of the Palestinian civilian population from Gaza would not only be unacceptable and in breach of international law. It would also lead to new suffering and new hatred," she stated.

"We must see Palestinians able to live and prosper in their homelands in Gaza, in the West Bank. That is what we want to get to" said Keir Starmer, condemning the idea of expelling the Palestinians from Gaza, adding that "they must be allowed home, they must be allowed to rebuild."

The French Foreign Ministry released a statement in which it said that no third country should take control of Gaza and that any decision on its future must align with a "two-state" solution.

Jordan and Egypt opposed Trump's plan to expel the Palestinians, despite the pressure he's trying to put on the two countries, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi stated, "The solution to the Palestinian issue lies in Palestine."

On the other hand, despite Trump's claims that he contacted the Egyptian President, Egypt denied that such a conversation happened, and protesters took to the streets in a show of solidarity with the Palestinian people, marching toward the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.