The Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said that the majority of Palestinians living in Gaza should be encouraged to emigrate.
Smotrich, who is the leader of the far-right Religious Zionism party, told Israeli Army Radio on Sunday, that “What needs to be done in the Gaza Strip is to encourage emigration,” Russia Today reported.
“If there are 100,000 or 200,000 Arabs in Gaza and not 2 million Arabs, the entire discussion on the day after will be totally different,” he said.
RT further reported that Smotrich argued that a depopulated Gaza would no longer pose a threat to Israel.
The reason he believes this is that Palestinians living in Gaza are “growing up on the aspiration to destroy the state of Israel,” the report added.
Israel must increase humanitarian aid to the population of Gaza as the aid entering the enclave meets only 10 percent of its needs, according to Israeli media. https://t.co/BG2Mj8Sblo pic.twitter.com/LuBnLIXJTK
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) January 1, 2024
“Most of Israeli society will say ‘why not, it’s a nice place, let’s make the desert bloom, it doesn’t come at anyone’s expense,’” Smotrich said, as quoted by Reuters, reports RT.
The report added that Smotrich “suggested that an international resettlement plan should be devised for the Palestinians who ‘have been forcibly held against their will in a ghetto for 75 years’ and ‘were raised on anti-Israeli propaganda.’”
According to the UN, more than 85% of Gaza’s people – up to 1.9 million – have been displaced since Israel began its bombardment of the enclave, post October 7.
NETANYAHU: We have disagreements with Washington over the Gaza war.
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— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) January 1, 2024
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is also reportedly pushing plans to implement migration of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
According to media reports, Netanyahu told his ruling Likud Party members last Monday that “our problem is the countries that are willing to absorb (them), and we are working on it.”
The Palestinian Resistance Movement Hamas condemned Netanyahu’s plan, saying it is an attempt to “prolong the aggression.”
At least 23 Palestinians were killed and scores were injured on Monday as a result of the ongoing Israeli bombing of several areas in the Gaza Strip.https://t.co/SwAt0RvZFg pic.twitter.com/V2iisXxW4l
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) January 1, 2024
“The Palestinian people will not allow any plan that aims to obliterate their cause or to get them out of their lands and sanctities,” it said.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 21,978 Palestinians have been killed, and 57,697 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7. Palestinian and international estimates say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
(PC, RT)
I suspect most Palestinians will say, “That’s what we’ve been wanting for the past 75 years – to return. Put your money where your mouth is, Israel, and open the doors. Or is the “New Jew” of Zionist dreams really such a pitiful coward, after all?”