Israel intends to keep a kilometer wide (at least) buffer zone inside Gaza Strip along the entire border. After the war, anyone entering this zone will be shot.–Israel security source
The Biden administration supplemental aid bill offers Israel $15-billion in new weapons shipments to pursue genocide in Gaza. But what few have noticed except DAWN, is that there is funding tucked away to offer “humanitarian assistance” to Gazans expelled (or “relocated” to use State Deparment euphemism) to “third countries” (including Egypt) by Israel. The funding is presented as “humanitarian” in order to make it sound humane. After all, who can argue with offering much-needed assistance for starving refugees? DAWN explains:
“The Biden administration isn’t just giving a green light for ethnic cleansing—it’s bankrolling it,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, DAWN’s Executive Director. “Gaslighting Americans into facilitating long-held Israeli plans to depopulate Gaza under the cover of ‘humanitarian aid’ is a cruel and grotesque hoax.”
On October 20, 2023, the White House sent a request to Congress for supplemental funding for the current fiscal year, which, among other things, includes logistical, infrastructure, and other material support to make possible housing displaced Palestinians from Gaza to neighboring countries. This section of the request states:
These resources would support displaced and conflict affected civilians, including Palestinian refugees in Gaza and the West Bank, and to [sic] address potential needs of Gazans fleeing to neighboring countries. This would include food and nonfood items, healthcare, emergency shelter support, water and sanitation assistance, and emergency protection. This would also include potential critical humanitarian infrastructure costs needed for the refugee population to provide access to basic, life-sustaining support. This crisis could well result in displacement across [the] border and higher regional humanitarian needs, and funding may be used to meet evolving programming requirements outside of Gaza.
Clearly, as I wrote above, this provision envisions Israeli ethnic cleansing. Though it is couched in terms few could argue with, the bottom line is it supports a planned Israeli mass expulsion.
During a press conference, Sam Husseini pressed State Department spokesperson on this issue. The official response was:
First, we continue to provide support to Palestinian refugees through the UN, through UNWRA, and the U.S. is going to also continue to support efforts for safe passage for civilians in Gaza seeking safety. As it relates to our foreign policy, the U.S. does not support any forced relocation of Palestinians outside of Gaza. It is not a policy we are pursuing. It is not something that is on the table.
Here, he is saying two separate things which contradict each other. First, that the US supports Palestinian refugees via existing UN humanitarian programs. So far so good. But then he adds we “continue to support efforts for safe passage for civilians in Gaza seeking safety.” That can be read two ways: one is supporting “safe passage” of Gazans inside the enclave. But the second more ominous potential meaning is that the US supports “safe passage” to outside Gaza.
Though the US official says the US does not support “forced relocation of Palestinians outside Gaza,” note what he didn’t say: the US does not support any relocations outside of Gaza. In other words, the US may have no problem with voluntary relocations to Egypt or third-countries. If the US, Israel or any other party “persuade” them to leave, we have no problem with that.
Of course, the definition of “forced” and “voluntary” is almost indistinguishable in the Israeli vocabulary. For example, it put many of its African refugees in a desert concentration camp. Then it offered them a paltry sum if they would leave. Those who did were dumped unceremoniously in Rwanda or Uganda with no travel documents or funds. Israel considered those voluntary departures. Even if the US provides all of the refugee “assistance” its funded, it will still be a forced relocation.
Finally, the State Department official ends with a non sequitur. When Sam tries to ask him again about displacement of Gazans to Egypt, the reply is: “we are not engaging in any situation in which Egyptian land would be leased.” Huh? Sam’s question mentioned nothing about leasing Egyptian land. This begs another question: if the US opposes leasing Egyptian territory would it accept another method which would permit placing them there?
Israel’s newer and more improved Nakba
Returning to the Israeli ethnic cleansing plans: two of them suggest that all Gazans be expelled. The third and official plan calls for “only” hundreds of thousands of Gazans be expelled from their homes. At the start of the war (October 15th), an Israeli security official told me (see above) Israel planned to create an added buffer of one mile inside Gaza. He added ominously, that anyone entering the zone (i.e refugees seeking to reclaim their homes, orchards, etc) would be executed. That is about an explicit admission of Israeli intent to permanently depopulate nothern Gaza, as you can get. And subsequent events have borne it out.
This would be a land grab involving 20% of all Gaza residential and agricultural land. It’s clear that the reason Israel forced Gazans to evacuate the northern portion of the enclave was not merely to facilitate its attacks on Hamas–it was a massive ethnic cleansing. It does not intend for those refugees to return. It will refuse to permit it regardless of what its US or European allies say.
Israeli settler fascists have already begun clamoring and planning for a “return” to Gaza. They plan not only to restore the settlements evacuated by then PM Ariel Sharon, they plan to resettle all of Gaza with Judeo-ethnic cleansers. It is Judeo-triumphalism. Israel enveloped in nationalist-messianic miasma.
Israeli logic dictates that the fewer Gazans there are and the fewer land they occupy, the less the territory Hamas will have in order to operate. This ethnic cleansing project has a long term goal to dismantle both the resistance to Israeli Occupation, and the number of Gazans in Gaza. Like Ben Gurion, who reluctantly accepted UN partition with the stated expectation it was only the first phase of Zionist conquest, Israel probably views this stage as a down-payment on its ultimate goal, to rid the West Bank and Gaza of ALL Palestinians. This would make Israel Arabrein and achieve the stated goal of large portions of the Zionist movement over a century: making Israel a pure Judeo-ethnic state.
Nakba 2.0
Gazans were already expelled from their original homes in Palestine during the Nakba. They fled to Gaza and established lives as refugees there. Now Israel will make them refugees a second time. This is criminal behavior that must be condemned by all humanitarian agencies, world bodies and governments. It won’t be. But they better wake up and understand the process at work here. Otherwise, Israel will present the world a fait accompli.
Though a NY Times report indicated united opposition to this Israeli plan, the Congressional aid proposal marks a tacit approval for such a plan. The US expects Gazans will become permanent refugees within Gaza due to Israeli expulsion. Since Israel plans to reoccupy Gaza and wipe clean the entire northern portion of homes and any infrastructure, these internal refugees will not have any homes or land permitting them to remain in Gaza. At the right moment, Israel will open the gates to Gaza and those hundreds of thousands of displaced Gazans will, in Israel’s plan, flood into Egypt. The Israeli plan would also permit the refugees to go to third-countries, though it’s hard to imagine any that would accept them on such terms.
But the most critical factor is that Israel will essentially expel them and they will never return. That is ethnic cleansing, a war crime. Any party engaged in any action that aids, promotes or facilitates in any way,such expulsion is itself committing a war crime. That makes the US complicit in Israel’s crimes. The supplemental aid package is aiding and abetting a war crime.
Arab neighbors?
UAE won’t have a problem with it … closest ties with Israel’s intelligence agency and economy … Jordan will not have a choice … for the KSA they will play act to be seen as reluctant but will pursue NATO type of security, guarantee by the US … the MB nations Qatar and Turkey will form the resistance with Lebanon (Hezbollah) and Iran … need to watch how China will react as “sovereignty” is holy to Beijing in reference to their province Formosa (Taiwan) … see Treaty of Shimonoseki of 1895.
European states of NATO will facilitate the “humanitarian” corridor from UK naval base on Cyprus to Gaza Strip. Plan already being implemented.
Watch the travels of Dutch PM Mark Rutte to Qatar and Israel … next career step successor to Jens Stoltenberg.
Told Bibi the US delivery of Israel’s spare parts for IAF F-35 Stealth aircraft bombing the population in Gaza in a matter of self-defense is guaranteed by me. Hamas is a terror organization and I can’t wait until it is fully destroyed … may take some time … no ceasefire to their advantage.
That’s interesting that you believe that. I’m not sure Hamas is a terrorist organization. Were the Jews who fought back against the Nazis in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising terrorists? Were the Sonderkommando who tried to kill their Nazi captors terrorists? Seems to me that Palestinians are the victims and Hamas is a natural result of the desire of a people kept under occupation for decades to resist. I believe the Palestinians, as a people under brutal occupation, have a right to resist. All people under occupation have a right to resist. Israel’s abuse made Hamas necessary. Israel is a terrorist state. So is the United States. I am an American who has always voted Democrat. I voted for Joe Biden. Never again. I cannot vote for anyone in a political party that condones and financially supports genocide. Palestinians in Gaza have been living in a concentration camp that has turned into a death camp. I’m certain the West Bank will be next. I’m stunned by the fact that Israel is using Nazi tactics against another ethnic group.
I also wonder if the citizens of Israel know what is really happening in Gaza or is their news and internet access filtered to keep them ignorant? I truly wonder if all or most Israelis approve of the genocide or if they are being lied to by their government.
Ethnic cleansing was performed by Hamas and co. on October 7th. What happens in Gaza is legitimate self defense.
@ Raphael: No, it wasn’t. Hamas has no ability whatsoever to destroy Israel or its people. I cannot steal land, destroy religious sites, cultural institutions, or schools. It cannot burn down villages. I cannot murder tens of thousands. All of which Israel has done. Genocide must constitute a pattern in order to be valid. There is no such Palestinian pattern but there is an Israeli one.
You may publish only one comment per thread.
By definition, a country cannot attack a people it is already occupying and claim it is self defense. There is nothing legitimate about what Israel is doing. Genocide, collective punishment, forced displacement and perfidy are not legitimate forms of self defense. The are crimes against humanity. They became crimes against humanity after the Nazis did those same things to the Jews. It was wrong then, and the world should have stepped up. It’s wrong now and the world should be stepping up be we aren’t. In fact, some countries, like my own, are bankrolling this, making us as guilty as the Israelis.
Can we call what Hamas did on October 7 a terrorist attack? Absolutely. Does that make it okay for Israel to level Gaza and commit all of the crimes I mentioned above? Absolutely not. Can we call Israel a terrorist state? I believe so. Should we call America a terrorist state? I believe so.
I’m sorry that you believe that the deaths of 1,200 Israelis, as horrific as they were, is ethnic cleansing and justifies the death of more than 12,000 Palestinians. There’s this thing that a people under occupation often do. It’s called “resistance.” Yes, Hamas committed a terrorist attack, but they did it because they were resisting decade of Israeli occupation and oppression. If the situation were reversed, I’m certain you would agree with me.
Al-Sisi rejects US proposal of Egypt managing Gaza security post Hamas defeat: Report
● Netanyahu: I told Biden accusations of violence by settler movement are ’baseless’
● Settler former PM Naftali Bennett met with a group of Congress members, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby
I’m an American and I say “too little, too late.” Joe Biden is as much a war criminal as Netanyahu.
Sounds like the White House feels that Bibi’s days as P.M. are numbered.
Joe Biden’s approval ratings are falling fast and he is up for election in November 2024. I have already told him I voted for him in the last election and will never vote Democrat again. He’s not worried about Bibi. He’s worried about his re-election prospects. It’s unfortunate that his cowardly subservience to Israel will put Trump back in office again, but I’m not sure one is any better than the other. The only difference is Biden could have stopped this and he chose not to. The Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate could have stopped this by withdrawing funding from Israel but they chose not to. It’s disgusting.
Shouldn’t people be allowed and receive assistance to seek refuge outside the warzone they are trapped in? In every case I’m familiar with, those who care about those people’s lives say “yes.” Take Ukraine for example. No one tried to stop Ukrainian refugees from seeking refuge elsewhere while claiming this would be facilitating ethnic cleansing. But people who support the Palestinian cause, as opposed to Palestinian people, think they should be forced to stay put and risk their lives in support of the cause.
BTW, note that the quote you provided at the top speaks of a buffer zone of one “kilometer,” but your analysis refers to a zone of one “mile.”
Rafah border crossing … no one gets in, no one gets out … blocked by Israel for two decades. Egypt is no friend of Hamas … see terror attacks in the Sinai.
#ICC Prosecutor @KarimKhanQC was at the Rafah Border Crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip [video
Rafah border exit under control by IDF, approved list is drawn up by Egypt and Israel.
For the last 25 years, Israel has imposed increasingly strict restrictions on travel to and from the Gaza Strip
This is from your link:
“Israel withdrew from the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt in 2005, leaving Egypt and Hamas in control of their respective sides…. Egypt has kept its border crossing with Gaza, Rafah crossing, mostly closed since 2013,… In justifying its restrictions on access via Rafah, Egypt says that Israel, as the occupying power, is responsible for Gaza, and it also cites the security situation in the area of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula bordering Gaza…”
But if Israel were in control of the Rafah crossing, and you’re saying it is blocking Gazans from leaving, then that wouldn’t that be a good thing under the view that allowing them to leave amounts to ethnic cleansing? To be clear, I strongly disagree with that approach.
So many Palestinians have had to flee since Israel was born in 1948. They were initially refused return. The desire to return and it’s opposite, the inability to leave perversely puts pressure on Israel. Neighboring countries have taken in refugees but refugees can stay for years and wind fighting for return ( be a “festering wound”) growing terror groups. Egypt has real cause to fear. Refugees are in fact supposed to be allowed to return, they have a “right of return” according to international law.
But Israel evades international law. (The magic word is “Holocaust”.) The push to evict Palestinians permanently from this land, “river to the sea” (h/t Tlaib recently) has been going on for decades.
Now we have visual evidence of the not so slow “ethnic cleansing” a term being used more along with it’s more horrific cousin term “genocide” as we watch what is going on in Gaza.
@ Rex: You may only publish one comment per thread. This is your second in this thread.
What twisted logic you display. My view and that of internatonal human rights lawyers, academics and NGOs is that the Gaza siege is a violation of international law. Preventing movement into and out of Gaza is the least of the matter. The siege prevents commerce, restricts water, electricity, heat and import/export of goods. A siege prevents normal movement of populations into and out of the besieged territory.
I am totally uninterested in your tortured logic about ethnic cleansing and humanitarian aid. You can’t do a gotcha here. I’m way ahead of any bullshit you seek to peddle.
Egypt is working with Israel in deciding who and what is allowed in and out of Gaza through the Rafah crossing. Just because there are no IDF soldiers standing there doesn’t mean they aren’t in control. Mainstream media in America doesn’t tell you the whole story. They make Israel look good and you have to do a lot of lying to make that happen.
[comment deleted: this was your third comment in this thread. Don’t do this again. And do NOT repeat a comment with an argument you’ve already made. Repetition is boring.]
@ Rex:
That’s not the issue and you know it. Stop being disingenuous. International law forbids expelling inhabitants of a war zone for any reason whatsoever. That is a war crime. If you wanto offer humanitarian aid you do so where the live. Not where you want to dump them so you can ethnically cleanse their homeland.
That is a lie. Ukrainians who fled know that they will have a Ukraine to return to after the war. Gazans know if they live they will never return because Israel will kill them if they do. They will be permanent refugees. Similarly, most of the Syrians who fled Syria have returned. They too knew when they fled that they would have a country to return to.
False again. GAZANS themselves will stay put. It is their decision. Not yours. Not mine. I support their decision, but it is not mine to make. What I do is point out that international law is on their side. And that you are a disingenuous fraud.
As for the buffer zone, my security source said the zone would be AT LEAST one kilometer. Please be precise and quote my exact language, not your summary of it. When an Israeli tells me something like that I know that Israel will take more than the lower limit (one km).
Richard
A 1 km strip, stolen from Palestinian land, is about 22-2/3rd% of the Gaza Strip. Outrageous. If I want a buffer with my neighbor, I take it out of my land. Not so the Israelis. If Israel want a buffer, it must move its fence 1 km back into Israel, and declare the 1 km strip between the new and old fence to be the buffer.
Modeling Gaza as 5x30Km = 150 sq.km
A 1 km strip lost would be 4x29Km = 116 sq.km or a loss of 34 sq.km.
loss = 22.66667%
Netanyahu Ploy to Continue Nakba 2.0
Israeli/American ploy not a humanitarian corridor but an exit for refugees to escape bombs for The Jewish State to complete “transfer” and Nakba 2.0 with the blessing of President Joe Biden and U.S. Congress. Europeans are complicit following the identical narrative.
Department Press Briefing by Vedant Patel – November 9, 2023
Today’s reality on the ground in Gaza …
Total obliteration, refugees fleeing insofar they are able:
Israeli airstrikes target Gaza hospitals, kill 6 Palestinians in Al-Shifa Hospital | Anadolu Agency |
18 hospitals out of 34 were out of service due to either Israeli bombardment or lack of fuel, medical supplies
Nothing has changed for the Gazans and permanent state as refugees from their homeland.
“But what I expect to see is a rebuilt Gaza for the Gazans,” Netanyahu told Fox News.
So who will do and pay for the rebulding? How long from now will this begin to happen and what happens to Gazans in the meantime? Israel will take complete responsibility, Netanyahu says. For the Gazans displaced? Where will Gazans be in the meantime? How will they be taken care of? Egypt does not want a refugee problem especially for an indefinite period.
But without a peace process that guarantees a just result: “no river to the sea” for either side, this is now another bigger “mowing of the lawn”.
That saying, “mowing the lawn” if you think about what it means (after all the outrage over what Tlaib said) , shows such inhumanity, such self assurance, complacency, and reliance on military devastation is completely immoral based on maintaining the “status quo” that manufactured Oct 7th. Yet “mowing the lawn” passes so easily in conversation.
“The supplemental aid package is aiding and abetting a war crime.”
To date, no Gazan has been ethnically cleansed, moreover, Israel cannot force Egypt to resettle anyone, which Egypt is want to do. Israel cannot force the resettlement of Palestinians anywhere.
Richard is talking out of his hat, in much the same way that he’s concluded, without evidence, that Israel is guilty of genocide.
@ Miroslav:
A lie. 1.5 million Gazans have been ethnically cleansed from northern Gaza. Just because they haven’t yet been herded onto cattle cars and taken to camps in the Sinai doesn’t mean they’re not ethnically cleansed refugees.
A multi billion dollar bribe into al-Sisi’s coffers to share with his fellow generals would work wonders toward Egypt’s willingness to take in Gazans.
Israel has lobbied its European and US allies on behalf of the forced expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. And if it wants to expel them it doesn’t need anyone’s approval. It didn’t ask for approval when it expelled 1-million during the Nakba. It just forced them out and told its neighbors to deal with them.