A document of the Israeli Ministry of Intelligence presents the idea of resettling the 2.3 million residents of the Gaza Strip on the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, world agencies and The Times of Israel reported.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office acknowledged the existence of such a document, but described it as “conceptual” and said it merely laid out another hypothetical possible alternative.
The document is dated October 13. It outlines the idea of moving the residents of Gaza to a tent camp in the northern Sinai Peninsula, then building permanent towns there for them and creating a humanitarian corridor.
At the same time, the Ministry of Intelligence has proposed the creation of a special security zone in Israel, which will prevent the infiltration of Palestinian refugees.
The document makes no mention of what will happen to the Gaza Strip after its residents are resettled. No serious discussions in the government regarding the proposal have taken place so far, writes the Israeli publication, quoted by BTA.
On October 17, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said in an interview with CNN that Cairo was ready to let humanitarian aid trucks through the Rafah crossing on Egypt’s border with Gaza for residents of the enclave, but warned that his country had no intention to host refugees from there on its territory.
According to Al-Arabi al-Jihad, citing Egyptian sources, Egypt is proposing the establishment of a camp for Palestinians in the Palestinian settlement of Rafah. The camp will be located 3 kilometers from the border with Egypt and its activities will be controlled from Cairo.
Information about the existence of a document that mentions the resettlement of Palestinians in Egypt deepens longstanding Egyptian fears that Israel wants to turn Gaza into an Egyptian problem, notes the Associated Press. It also rekindles Palestinian memories of their worst trauma – the flight or displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes during the fighting surrounding the creation of the Israeli state in 1948, the agency added.
“We are against any relocation of any place, in any form, and we consider this a red line that we will not allow to be crossed,” said Nabil Abu Rudeina, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. “There will be no repetition of what happened in 1948,” he added. Abu Rudeina warned that mass displacement of Palestinians would be tantamount to declaring a new war.
At the same time, a spokesman for the Israeli reserve forces, Jonathan Conricus, announced that at least 800,000 residents of the northern areas of Gaza had left them, TASS reported.
2023-10-31 08:43:19
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