US slams Smotrich, Ben-Gvir's remarks as 'inflammatory, irresponsible'
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The United States says there should be no future for Resistance parties governing Gaza.
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US President Biden joins a war cabinet meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in "Tel Aviv", occupied Palestine, on October 18, 2023 (AFP)
The United States denounced statements made by two Israeli ministers that Palestinians should be forced out of Gaza and be replaced with settlers but reiterated its stance that Hamas and other Resistance groups should not be governing the besieged Strip in the future.
This comes as the US repeatedly announced that it will place no conditions on weapons and supplies provided to the occupation entity to conduct its war on Gaza.
From October 7 until mid-December last year, 244 US transport planes and 20 ships delivered over 10,000 tons of armaments and military equipment to "Israel".
State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said Washington "rejects recent statements from Israeli Ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir advocating for the resettlement of Palestinians outside of Gaza."
Read more: 83% of Israelis support ethnic cleansing of Gazans: Survey
"This rhetoric is inflammatory and irresponsible," he said, adding that it is the "clear, consistent, and unequivocal" US position that "Gaza is Palestinian land and will remain Palestinian land, with Hamas no longer in control of its future and with no terror groups able to threaten Israel."
Israeli far-right Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called on Monday for "a solution to encourage the emigration of Gaza's residents."
This sentiment has been repeatedly announced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his extremist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
Ben-Gvir considered that establishing settlements in Gaza after forcibly displacing its residents "is a correct, just, moral and humane solution."
Read more: UNRWA accuses "Israel" of preparing Gaza residents expulsion to Egypt
"This is an opportunity to develop a project to encourage Gaza's residents to emigrate to countries around the world," he said in a meeting with his ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit party.
Israeli media reported last week that former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, during a recent visit to "Tel Aviv" and a meeting with Netanyahu, was delegated by the Israeli occupation government to convince Arab countries to receive forcibly displaced Palestinians from Gaza.
Commenting on the reports, the Palestinian Presidency warned that this is an attempt to "complete the Balfour Declaration" and expressed strong rejection of this measure, announcing that Blair is considered to be "an unwelcome person in the Palestinian territories.”
Decisive stance of the Palestinian people
Since day one of the war on the Strip, the occupation entity's top officials publicly declared that one of the objectives was to forcefully displace its residents to other countries, most notably Jordan and Egypt.
This plan saw the Israeli army carry out the bloodiest aggression since WW2 on the besieged Strip, which included the killing of nearly 22,000 Palestinians, most of whom are children and women, and the mass destruction of homes, hospitals, schools, and other vital infrastructure necessary for survival.
Palestinian Resistance movement Hamas commented on the Israeli Prime Minister's remarks, saying his plan to pass a "voluntary immigration" scheme for the people from the Gaza Strip is ridiculous and aims to compensate for the Israeli war failure.
"Netanyahu is trying to sell illusions to prolong the aggression after he and his army failed to achieve their goals," the party said.
"Our Palestinian people affirmed their decisive stance by rejecting deportation and displacement, and that there is no emigration and no choice but to remain steadfast on our land."
Nevertheless, every effort to execute this plan encountered the resilience of the Palestinian people in Gaza. Hundreds of thousands among them steadfastly declined to vacate the northern Strip, opting instead to stay in their homes, even in the face of the catastrophic conditions imposed by the entity and the daily ongoing massacres.
