Return to Gaza Conference Deepens Divisions in Israel

The “Return to Gaza” conference reinforces divisions in Israel

The “Return to Gaza” (settlement return) conference, which was held in Jerusalem on Sunday evening, and in which 12 Israeli ministers and thousands of extremist Israelis participated, deepened the differences in Israel after a series of sharp criticisms of the policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and also led to widespread reactions.

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid criticized Netanyahu’s silence regarding the participation of ministers and members of the Knesset from his party in the conference held in Jerusalem, and called for the resumption of Israeli settlement in the Gaza Strip. Lapid said on Monday that this conference harms Israel’s foreign relations and gives the impression that it is planning to deport the Palestinian population. Lapid accused the government of not having any strategy for the day after the end of the war in the Gaza Strip, and all that matters to Netanyahu is his political survival, according to what he said.

Lapid also described the conference as a disgrace to Netanyahu and his party.

Lapid’s criticism came after sharp criticism directed by ministers in the Israeli War Council, Israeli officials, and the ruling Likud Party itself.

The Minister in the Israeli War Council, Benny Gantz, said that the return to Gaza conference harmed efforts to return the kidnapped people, and also harmed Israeli society in times of war, and Israel’s legitimacy in the world.

National Security Minister Ben Gvir dances with a number of attendees at the settlement conference in Jerusalem on Sunday evening (Reuters)

Gantz attacked the prime minister, telling him: “He who is silent is not a leader.”

Military Council Minister Gadi Eisenkot also attacked the conference, describing it as divisive.

Eisenkot believed that the participation of ministers in the conference showed that they had not learned anything, adding: “While our soldiers are fighting in a difficult war, and we are searching for common goals, others are finding time for an event that divides Israeli society, and increases the current lack of confidence in the government.”

As for the head of the Labor Party, Merav Michaeli, she said that Netanyahu “brought Kahane’s followers (referring to the followers of a Jewish group led by extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane, who was assassinated in 1990) from the outcast margins to lead the State of Israel.” The incitement that led to the assassination of (Yitzhak) Rabin now threatens to destroy the State of Israel.”

Participants in the Gaza settlement conference on Sunday evening (Reuters)

In addition, senior Likud authorities criticized the participation of ministers and representatives from the party in the conference that called for the restoration of settlement in the Gaza Strip, and said that the event itself harms Israel in the international arena at a time when it is facing a media battle.

A senior Likud source, according to Kan Radio, believed that the time had come to remove extremists from its ranks. They transformed it into the “Jewish Power B” party (referring to the party led by extremist National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir).

Ben Gvir had attended the conference, in which participants chanted slogans calling for “transfer” (deportation of Palestinians), and urged encouraging Gazans to leave the Gaza Strip voluntarily.

Ben Gvir delivers his speech at the Jerusalem conference (Reuters)

Likud responded to the torrent of criticism, saying that the right has the right to express its opinion freely, but policies are taken by the prime minister in the government.

The far-right Israeli Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, also responded by calling on Netanyahu to form an Israeli military government in the Gaza Strip, saying that there are many countries ready to receive the Palestinians.

Thousands of Israelis participated in a festival on Sunday night, in which 12 ministers and 15 legislators from the ruling coalition pledged to rebuild Israeli Jewish settlements in the heart of the Gaza Strip and encourage the migration of the Palestinian population after the end of the war with Hamas.

At the conference, Minister Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the extremist Religious Zionist party, extolled the virtues of establishing new settlements, saying: “God willing, we will settle and we will win,” while Ben Gvir told the audience that “the time has come to return to Gush Katif” (the name of the bloc). The Israeli settlement in Gaza that was evacuated as part of the disengagement plan in 2005).

Smotrich and Ben Gvir, along with 6 members of the Knesset from the ruling coalition, signed what was called the “Pact of Victory and Settlement Renewal,” in which the signatories pledged “to work to develop Jewish settlements full of life” in the Gaza Strip.

Along with them, Communications Minister Shlomo Qarai of the ruling Likud Party also called for building settlements in Gaza and “forcing civilians in Gaza to voluntarily emigrate.”

Minister Ben Gvir while attending the conference on the return of settlements to Gaza in Jerusalem on Sunday night (Reuters)

In addition to many banners, a banner was raised among the crowd that read: “Only transfer will bring peace.”

The Times of Israel website said that footage of the conference sparked violent reactions on social media, with critics pointing out that the government and coalition ministers were dancing joyfully, while the war was raging, and there were tens of thousands of displaced Israelis, and soldiers were being killed almost daily, and 136 Hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza.

Netanyahu did not attend the conference, and indicated, on Saturday night, that he opposes re-settlement in Gaza, and that this is not an acceptable government policy.

Israel had dismantled 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip, and evacuated their population of 8,000 settlers, when it unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005, returning to the pre-1967 lines.

In Ramallah, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned in the strongest terms the “colonial meeting,” and believed that it and its content once again revealed “the true face of the ruling Israeli right-wing, its hostility to peace, and its adherence to occupation, colonialism, and apartheid.”

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2024-01-29 17:32:59