Israel’s far-right finance minister said that Israelis replacing Palestinians would “make the desert bloom.”
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called on Gaza’s Palestinian residents to vacate the besieged enclave and make way for Israelis who will “make the desert bloom.”
Smotrich, who has been excluded from discussions of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet and the next day’s arrangements in Gaza, made the comments on Israeli Army Radio on Sunday.
“What we need to do in Gaza is encourage immigration,” he said.
“If instead of 2 million Arabs in Gaza there were 100,000 or 200,000 Arabs, the discussion the next day would be completely different,” he said.
He added that Gaza would be viewed differently in Israel if its 2.3 million people, who were “raised with a desire to destroy the state of Israel,” were gone.
“Most people in Israeli society would say, ‘Why not?’ This is a wonderful place, let’s make the desert bloom, and it won’t come at anyone’s expense.”
Sarah Khairat, reporting for Al Jazeera from Tel Aviv, said Smotrich’s comments were “tied to the narrative that many are starting to believe that Israel wants to reoccupy Gaza.”
“Pushing forward the idea of wanting to get rid of the Palestinians,” Khairat said, would recall scenes from the Nakba, the ethnic cleansing of Palestine after the 1948 war that accompanied the creation of the state. of Israel.
After the Nakba, most Palestinians have taken refuge in neighboring Arab countries, and Arab leaders say any latter-day move to evacuate Palestinians is unacceptable.
In a speech on Sunday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rejected any move to force Palestinians to leave their homes.
“We will not allow any evacuation, whether it’s from the Gaza Strip or from the West Bank,” he said.
Smotrich’s far-right policies
Smotrich, whose far-right religious Zionist party draws support from Israeli settler communities, has made similar statements in the past, putting him at odds with Israel’s most important ally, the United States.
However, his position contradicts the government’s official position that Palestinians in Gaza can return to their homeland after the war.
Mr. Smotrich’s party, which almost exactly a year ago helped Prime Minister Netanyahu secure the majority needed to become prime minister for a sixth time, has seen slumping approval ratings since the start of the civil war.
Polls also show that most Israelis do not support a return to Gaza after Israeli settlements were vacated when the military withdrew in 2005.
Israel withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005 after 38 years of occupation, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he does not intend to maintain a permanent presence again, but will maintain security control indefinitely.
But little is clear about Israel’s long-term intentions, and countries including the United States insist that Gaza should be ruled by Palestinians.
