What should happen with the population of Gaza after the massacre of Oct. 7?
Sen. Tom Cotton (Republican of Arkansas) wants them not going to the United States but to the countries that supported their jihad: "Iran should take responsibility for any Palestinian refugees caused by its proxy . . . war with Israel. Iran is responsible for the death and destruction — it should be responsible for refugees as well."
In contrast, Rep. Jamaal Bowman (Democrat of New York) suggested that "The international community as well as the United States should be prepared to welcome refugees from Palestine while being very careful to vet and not allow members of Hamas."
Two points by way of background:
(1) The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research found in June 2023 that 29 of Gazans expressed a desire to emigrate - down from three months earlier when 32 percent of Gazans expressed the same desire.
(2) Martin Sherman of the Israel Institute for Strategic Studies has argued for decades for what he calls the "humanitarian paradigm," namely: "dismantling Gaza, humanitarian relocation of the non-belligerent Arab population, and extension of Israeli sovereignty over the region."
It consists of two steps: (a) Israel's government withdrawing recognition of the twin Palestinian regimes and cutting off all trade and services to them (water, electricity, fuel, postal services, communications, port facilities, tax collection or remittances) followed by (b) its offering Palestinians sufficient money to convince them voluntarily to leave for "a better, safer life elsewhere" in the world. An October 2001 poll reported 66 percent of Israelis supporting this scheme.
To which, I replied in 2017 that "Due to intense nationalism, even stronger social pressure, and likely threats of violence, I highly doubt this scheme will find significant numbers of takers." And were it to find takers, who would let them immigrate? Egypt's high barrier adjoining Gaza also goes deep into the ground; what Hamas calls the "Wall of Death," among other factors, insures no unwanted immigration. That said, I concluded, "it's certainly worth a try." (October 14, 2023)
Oct. 17, 2023 update: Nikki Haley, a Republican presidential candidate, agrees:
We shouldn't take any Gazan refugees in the U.S. I said ... at the U.N. that we shouldn't take Syrian refugees in the U.S. I believe that those in the region should take them. I said that about Syria then. That's why Jordan and Turkey took the bulk of the refugees there.
And I think, honestly, the Hamas-sympathizing countries should take these Gazans now. We're talking about Qatar, we're talking about Iran, we're talking about Turkey.
Nov. 14, 2023 update: Two Israeli member of parliament, Danny Danon and Ram Ben-Barak, contend that "The West Should Welcome Gaza Refugees."
Nov. 16, 2023 updates: (1) I published a letter responding to the Danon/Ben-Barak article, "Why Should Gazans Leave the Middle East?"
(2) Charlie Kirk responded with outrage to that same article:
If Gazans are too dangerous for Israel, they're too dangerous for us, too. America isn't the world's landfill. Make the Arab world take them. Qatar is rich and already hosts Hamas's billionaire leader. Saudi Arabia has endless money and endless space. Jordan and Egypt are right next door. All of them share the same culture and religion as the Gazans. Make them take the refugees.
Nov. 19, 2023 update: Gila Gamliel, Israel's intelligence minister has raised the option "to promote the voluntary resettlement of Palestinians in Gaza, for humanitarian reasons, outside of the Strip."
Nov. 28, 2023 update: Pesach Wolicki, director of Israel365action.com, argues that, "Rather than calling for resettlement of Gazans in Western countries, pressure should be brought to bear on the Arab-Muslim world to take responsibility for a problem that they helped create and have always refused to help solve." That complements my letter above.
Nov. 30, 2023 update: According to Ariel Kahana of Israel Hayom, "Senior US lawmakers review plan linking Gaza refugee resettlement to US aid to [Middle Eastern] countries," being Egypt, Turkey, Iraq, and Yemen. It even includes a map with the numbers sketched out.
Dec. 21, 2023 updates: (1) Canada's Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced that "temporary visas will be available for the extended families of Canadians or Permanent Residents, so that they may be reunited and find safety with their families in Canada."
(2) Nikki Haley, Republican candidate for president, doubled down on her solution:
What the Palestinians need is to move to pro-Hamas countries such as Qatar, Iran and Turkey. Why doesn't Egypt want them? Because she doesn't really know who is a terrorist and who isn't. Instead of letting the world put pressure on Israel, brought to its knees by the worst massacre since the Holocaust, why not talk to Egypt, Turkey, Qatar or Iran? Why aren't they doing something to help the Palestinians?
Dec. 25, 2023 update: The Jerusalem Post published an article by Joel Roskin, a faculty member of the Department of Geography and Environment at Bar-Ilan University, arguing that "the northern Sinai Peninsula is an ideal location to develop a spacious resettlement for the people of Gaza." The article even includes a view from space of this future homeland.
Dec. 26, 2023 updates: (1) Top Hamas figure Osama Hamdan warned "all countries against cooperating with Netanyahu's plans regarding so-called voluntary migration."
(2) David Isaac offers a roundup on this debate at "Voluntary population transfer floated as option for Gaza residents." He also breaks one item of news: that Danny Danon revealed that "South American and African countries have already expressed interest in taking in Palestinian Arab refugees from the Gaza Strip in return for monetary compensation."
Dec. 31, 2023 updates: (1) Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich advocates voluntary emigration from Gaza: "Israel must encourage voluntary immigration among the residents of Gaza. Look for countries that will be willing to take them in and encourage voluntary immigration. This is part of restoring security to the Western Negev."
(2) A spokesman for the immigration ministry emphasized the limited nature of the Canadian offer. Its communication advisor, Jeffrey MacDonald, said
Canada will launch a special program for citizens with relatives in Gaza and will issue temporary visas within that framework. He noted that the government would prioritize the evaluation of existing applications from Palestinians with family ties to Canada. MacDonald emphasized that reports in the Israeli media regarding Miller's possible support for the voluntary migration of Palestinians to Canada during contacts in Israel are false.
(3) According to Israel's Channel 12, Tony Blair during meetings in Israel stated that he would consider giving his support to Gazan refugees emigrating.
Jan. 1, 2023 updates: (1) Tony Blair's office quickly rebuffed the report: "Reports that Mr. Blair has anything to do with the voluntary evacuation of Gazans is simply not true, there has been no such discussion nor would he consider it."
Comment: Miller, Blair ... how embarrassing that the Israelis keep putting words into others' mouths.
(2) The chief rabbi of Tzfat (aka Safed), Shmuel Eliyahu, endorses the voluntary emigration Gazans in an oped:
In Europe, they will receive a salary ten times higher than in Gaza. Their lives will not be in constant danger. Their children will not be drawn into terror. In Europe they will have a future. Therefore, they wish to emigrate, but Hamas makes it very hard for them. It demands a high price for every person emigrating, and the cost of emigration is too high for them. This price is not too high for us and for the world. The price of this war in money is tens of billions of shekels. For a quarter or a third of this price, we could give all the residents of Gaza good lives in other places in the world. ...
There are many countries in Europe which do not have sufficient birthrates and which need manpower. In Gaza there are hundreds of thousands unemployed; in Europe there is a lack of manpower. The most humanitarian and considerate solution is emigration." ... And most of all, this is what the Torah teaches us.
(3) The topic came up in the Knesset today. The Times of Israel reports:
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich presented the migration of Palestinian civilians as a solution to the long-running conflict and as a prerequisite for securing the stability necessary to allow residents of southern Israel to return to their homes.
The war presents an "opportunity to concentrate on encouraging the migration of the residents of Gaza," Ben Gvir told reporters and members of his far-right Otzma Yehudit party, calling such a policy "a correct, just, moral and humane solution."
"We cannot withdraw from any territory we are in in the Gaza Strip. Not only do I not rule out Jewish settlement there, I believe it is also an important thing," he said.
The "correct solution" to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict is "to encourage the voluntary migration of Gaza's residents to countries that will agree to take in the refugees," Smotrich told members of his Religious Zionism party, predicting that "Israel will permanently control the territory of the Gaza Strip," including through the establishment of settlements. ...
Veteran Arab Israeli lawmaker MK Ahmad Tibi (Hadash-Ta'al) condemned Smotrich and Ben Gvir, comparing their statements to Nazi calls for "Lebensraum," or living space, and declaring that such rhetoric was "inciting genocide."
"A day will come and these two senior ministers in the Israeli government will stand before an international tribunal for war crimes," Tibi said.
Jan. 2, 2024 updates: (1) Ben Gvir responded to Tibi: "Terrorist supporter Ahmad Tibi, if you attack me for promoting the immigration plan for the residents of Gaza - I know I'm on the right path. By the way, don't worry: I haven't neglected the promotion of your immigration out of the Knesset."
(2) U.S. State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller singled out Ben-Gvir and Smotrich for criticism:
The United States rejects recent statements from Israeli Ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir advocating for the resettlement of Palestinians outside of Gaza. This rhetoric is inflammatory and irresponsible. We have been told repeatedly and consistently by the Government of Israel, including by the Prime Minister, that such statements do not reflect the policy of the Israeli government. They should stop immediately.
We have been clear, consistent, and unequivocal that Gaza is Palestinian land and will remain Palestinian land, with Hamas no longer in control of its future and with no terror groups able to threaten Israel. That is the future we seek, in the interests of Israelis and Palestinians, the surrounding region, and the world.
Ben-Gvir replied:
Really appreciate the United States of America, but with all due respect we are not another star on the American flag. The United States is our best friend, but first of all, we will do what is best for the State of Israel: The migration of hundreds of thousands from Gaza will allow the residents of the enclave to return home and live in security and protect the Israel Defense Forces soldiers.
(3) JNS reports that "about 50 Israel Defense Forces reservists gathered in front of the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem" and called for a policy toward Gaza that "includes encouraging the voluntary migration of some of the coastal enclave's residents and transferring a significant amount of Gaza territory to Israeli control."
Jan. 3, 2024 updates: (1) Smotrich also replied to the State Department:
Over 70% of the Israeli public today supports a humanitarian solution of encouraging the voluntary immigration of Gaza Arabs to other countries." [The Israeli public understands] that a small country like ours cannot afford a reality where there is a hotbed of hatred and terror only four minutes away from our towns, with two million people who get up every morning with the desire to destroy the State of Israel and to slaughter, rape, and murder Jews wherever they are. Israeli society will not consent to the continuation of this reality in Gaza. We must work with our friends in the international community to find ways to bring peace, security and prosperity to all the countries of the region and allow the residents of the south to return to their homes safely and peacefully.
(2) Israeli Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel of the Likud Party expanded on her plan (see above, Nov. 19) for the voluntary resettlement of Gazans.
The mobilization of the international community is required to create a pool of countries that will take in refugees while receiving an aid package for them. With proper diplomatic work, the international system can be harnessed for this. The implementation of an outline of voluntary humanitarian resettlement will allow Gaza refugees who wish to have the opportunity to rebuild their lives without the tyranny and oppression of Hamas-ISIS.
(3) The Times of Israel reports on new developments:
The "voluntary" resettlement of Palestinians from Gaza is slowly becoming a key official policy of the government. ... Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition is conducting secret contacts for accepting thousands of immigrants from Gaza with Congo, in addition to other nations. "Congo will be willing to take in migrants, and we're in talks with others," a senior source in the security cabinet said. ...
Last Monday, Netanyahu told a Likud faction meeting that he is working to facilitate the voluntary migration of Gazans to other countries. "Our problem is [finding] countries that are willing to absorb Gazans, and we are working on it," he said.
(4) An Israeli diplomatic source quoted by Arutz Sheva said:
There are a lot of people in Israel who think Gazans would be willing to emigrate, and in my opinion, those are baseless dreams. No country wants to let in not a million, not half a million, and no other number. We are not negotiating with any country that would be the destination of Gazan migrants.
Comment: I concur. It's a fantasy that has no chance of succeeding. Someone wake the Israelis up to reality, please.
(5) A straw poll conducted by Israeli journalist Amit Segal with 23,000 replies found 96 percent of respondents wanting to encourage Gazans to emigrate.
(6) Eugene Kontorovich: "there should be no mass turning back at the border of Gazans who wish to flee and seek refugee in neutral countries, or making Gaza the only place other than North Korea without migration."
Jan. 4, 2024 updates: (1) A Times of Israel article reports on a senior Israeli official denying that Israel is "in talks with the Congo":
There are those in Israel who think that there is a willingness on the part of Gazans to emigrate voluntarily. It's a baseless illusion in my opinion. No country will absorb 2 million people, or 1 million, or 100,000, or 5,000. I don't know where that idea came from. It could be between Congo and Gazans, but Israel is not conducting any talks with any country on this issue. I don't want to say it's fake, but it can't be through us since we have no connection to it. [The Congolese] can talk to the Gazans and ask them to move to Congo. ... Let's say Smotrich wanted to do it, what can he do? We're not part of this. We are not in a position where we can bring people from here to Congo... we're not in the loop.
It also reports that the French and German governments joined the U.S. in condemning Smotrich and Ben Gvir for the "voluntary emigration" idea.
(2) A second Times of Israel article reports that two cabinet members criticized the discussion of this topic.
Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar:
It's not realistic, and it's clear that the international community will not accept it. ... with things like this, even if you have a belief or a goal like this, it can be discussed and debated behind closed doors.
Minister without portfolio Yifat Shasha-Biton: Smotrich and Ben Gvir are
causing damage, period, on any level at which it can be considered. I think that everyone who sits around the government table and around the cabinet table should remember that we have a heavy responsibility to the citizens of the State of Israel. If there is nothing wise to say or something useful — then it is better to simply not say it. I think that Smotrich and Ben Gvir do not understand the magnitude of the responsibility that rests on their shoulders.
(3) A third Times of Israel article brings in the international reactions:
UN human rights chief Volker Turk is "very disturbed by high-level Israeli officials' statements on plans to transfer civilians from Gaza to third countries. ... international law prohibits forcible transfer of protected persons within or deportation from occupied territory."
Saudi Arabia rejects the two ministers' "extremist remarks. ... The Kingdom stresses the importance of the concerted efforts of the international community to activate international accounting mechanisms towards the persistence of the Israeli occupation government, through its statements and actions, in violating the rules of international legitimacy and international humanitarian law."
Qatar condemned the statements in the "strongest terms. ... It also considers these statements an extension of the reoccupation of the occupation's approach in violating the rights of the brotherly Palestinian people, a contempt for international laws and agreements, and its toxic attempts to block the way to peace opportunities, especially the two-state solution."
Tariq Ahmad, UK minister for the Middle East region, condemned the "inflammatory remarks. ... Gaza is occupied Palestinian Territory and will be part of the future Palestinian state. No Palestinian should be threatened with forcible displacement or relocation."
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell stated that "Forced displacements are strictly prohibited as a grave violation of IHL [international humanitarian law] & words matter."
(4) And here's a vote for forced emigration from Muhammad Masad, a former Fatah killer, advising Israelis, "You must drive the Gazans into Sinai and let them stay there for forty years until they change their mind and learn that life is more valuable than Qatari or Iranian money."
(5) The Washington Post quotes an unnamed source about the voluntary emigration schemes: "The professionals in the military and the security establishment know this is not even in the realm of possibility. They know there is no future without Gazans in Gaza and the PA as part of the government." It also quotes a Gazan named Tariq that he "would rather die and be buried under the soil of Gaza than go out and live in any other country."
Comment: No doubt, many more such quotes lie ahead, signaling the impossibility of the schemes.
Jan. 7, 2024 updates: (1) Ben-Gvir: "I support voluntary resettlement. Take them and send them away. I think that hundreds of thousands of them will leave with how Gaza looks today."
(2) Antony Blinken stated that "Palestinian civilians must be able to return home as soon as conditions allow. They cannot, they must not, be pressed to leave Gaza." Israel's President Isaac Herzog said that encouraging the mass displacement of Gazans is "totally not the position of the Israeli government."
Jan. 8, 2024 update: "Palestinians desperate to leave Gaza are paying bribes to brokers of up to $10,000 (£7,850) to help them exit the territory through Egypt, according to a Guardian investigation. ... prices have surged since the start of the war, from $500 for each person." One angry Gazan described Egypt's not opening the borders as a "cover for the corruption happening on the ground."
Jan. 10, 2024 updates: (1) Antony Blinken: "Palestinian civilians must be able to return home as soon as conditions allow. They must not be pressed to leave Gaza. As I told the prime minister, the United States unequivocally rejects any proposals advocating for the resettlement of Palestinians outside of Gaza, and the prime minister reaffirmed to me today that this is not the policy of Israel's government."
(2) Benjamin Netanyahu: "Israel has no intention of permanently occupying Gaza or displacing its civilian population. Israel is fighting Hamas terrorists, not the Palestinian population, and we are doing so in full compliance with international law." His office also stated that "Contrary to false allegations, Israel doesn't seek to displace the population in Gaza. Subject to security checks, Israel's policy is to enable those individuals who wish to leave to do so."
(3) Danny Danon informed JNS that a proposal to encourage Gazans voluntary to emigrate is not on the Israeli government's agenda due to American pressure and will no longer be considered due to opposition from the Biden administration.
Jan. 12, 2024 updates: (1) Asked if he supports Israeli cabinet ministers who are "pushing for the mass removal of Palestinians from Gaza," Republican candidate for president Ron DeSantis replied,
As President I am not going to tell them to do that, I think there's a lot of issues with that. But if they make the calculation that to avert a second Holocaust, they need to do that - I think some of these Palestinian Arabs, Saudi Arabia should take some, Egypt should take some.
(2) Dror Eydar, an Israel Hayom columnist and former Israeli ambassador to Italy, makes an extended case for the voluntary emigration of Gazans. He starts by reviewing the drive to leave before Oct. 7:
On September 9, 2023, less than a month before the October 7 massacre and the war that followed, violent clashes broke out between hundreds of young Gazans and security guards from a Gaza travel agency that had been granted a license to issue visas to Turkey. Several people were injured, and the company's offices were damaged. The Gaza branch of the Palestine Society of Tourism and Travel Agents (yes, Gaza did have a tourism and travel association) accused the travel agency of exploiting its monopoly on issuing permits to raise prices. So why did the fracas break out in the first place?
A study published by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Center on migration from Gaza since the Hamas takeover in 2007 shows that some 300,000 young people have left the Strip in that time. A report about a month before the war claimed that around 19,000 Gazans applied for a travel visa to Turkey within the space of just one week, and some 83,000 Gazans who had already applied for a visa were waiting to receive it. Similar figures provided by human rights organizations in Gaza were cited in the Arab press. The visa applicants seek to make it to Turkey and from there to Greece, Europe, and Canada.
According to reports, young people are driven to leave Gaza by a general sense of hopelessness: hundreds of thousands of university graduates don't have jobs; unemployment and poverty rates are increasing; the private sector is collapsing due to the destruction of enterprises and companies; the cost of living is soaring; there is insufficient social care and levels of service are low, especially in mental health and other fields.
He then argues that, no matter what Israel does, genocidal Palestinian rejectionism will continue in Gaza, so everyone is better off with Gazans leaving there and starting elsewhere:
Israel will fight to eliminate Hamas, but its totalitarian ideology will remain. It will ensure that Gazans will continue to be inculcated with a culture of death and destruction, lust for murder, and above all, a willingness to sacrifice themselves so long as they kill a small number of Jews.
Given this state of affairs, is it not right for us to seriously think about helping Gazans emigrate so that they will be able to start a new life, somewhere where children can go out in the morning to learn wisdom and science rather than death and the love of evil? Tens of millions of refugees have moved to new places over the past hundred years and have rebuilt their lives.
He concludes that Gazans will gain by emigrating:
There are two alternatives for Gazans: a decent and dignified life, somewhere new, far from Hamas' malign influence, or remaining in the Gaza Strip in pitiful conditions and with no hope. We should not delude ourselves: even if we build luxury neighborhoods for Gazans, life there will soon return to third-world conditions because the Strip will continue to live under the ideology of death and destruction. For now, hope for Gazans lies outside of Gaza.
Comment: The flaw in this argument lies in thinking that Gazans will abandon genocidal Palestinian rejectionism once they leave Gaza, that this is an ideology imposed on them by Hamas that they will shed once free of its clutches. Unfortunately, that does not seem to be the case; consider the many violent Palestinians not living in Gaza.
Jan. 15, 2024 update: A poll conducted by Direct Polls Ltd. asked (Jewish? Not clear) Israelis: "Are you for or against voluntary transfer emigration of the residents of the Gaza Strip to other countries?" To this, 76 percent responded in favor; 16 percent against, and 8 percent had no opinion.
Jan. 16, 2024 update: Israel's Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel calls Gaza: "a hotbed of extremism" where,
for too many years, its leaders have preferred murdering Jews over improving the lives of civilians ... The international community stands idly by and does nothing. This is an opportunity for those who claim to support the Palestinian people to prove it in practice. I'll make it simple – open the door! No one is compelling anyone to leave. You cannot disregard the suffering of the Gazans. Just open the door and allow those who seek to join the thousands of Gazans who have emigrated willingly in recent years.
Jan. 17, 2024 update: This topic has breached the Israeli/Jewish media with a long report in CNN, "Israel's far-right wants to move Palestinians out of Gaza. Its ideas are gaining attention." It begins by noting the absence of official plans for post-war Gaza.
Into that void has stepped a group – once fringe, but now in the governing coalition –that hopes for full Israeli control, to resettle Gaza and even expel Palestinians. And its ideas are permeating mainstream debate.
It then quotes Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, as well as Antony Blinken's response to them.
These statements are irresponsible, they're inflammatory, and they only make it harder to secure a future of Palestinian-led Gaza with Hamas no longer in control, and with terrorist groups no longer able to threaten Israel's security.
Dahlia Scheindlin, a left-wing pollster is then quoted finding support for this position ranging between 25 and 50 percent of Israelis, adding:
Ideas that often seem very extreme at a certain phase in Israel's history can over time become increasingly normalized very incrementally – sometimes a little bit below the radar, not exactly hidden, but not exactly advertised.
A Palestinian "human rights lawyer" then gives her predictable take. Then Yishai Fleisher, a spokesman for the Jewish community in Hebron gets quoted.
If Palestinians in Gaza are "post-Jihad, pro-Israel, and want to live that good life in that beautiful soil, there should be an opportunity for that," he said. "Anti-Israel, pro-jihad Arabs have got to leave. And they're going to have to find a different place to go. It might be Turkey, and it might be Jordan, and it might be South America," he said. "If they can't muster in their heart to live in or next to the Jewish state, we can't have them."
The Norwegian Refugee Council is quoted to the effect that "any attempts by Israel to deport and permanently displace Palestinians within and from Gaza would constitute a serious breach of international law and an atrocity crime."
Gila Gamliel is quoted, then Mahmoud Abbas. Omer Bartov of Brown University comments that the vision of voluntary emigration could "become true by default" and calls it "ethnic cleansing."
Jan. 18, 2024 update: Avi Abelow argues in JNS that the world "has adopted a double standard towards Gaza refugees."
When Russia launched its war against Ukraine, leaders of the Western world advocated for the mass emigration of Ukrainian refugees to safety. Those leaders demanded the same regarding Syrian refugees, asking the world to grant them safe haven. The world has remained largely silent as Pakistan expels over a million Afghans. It seems, then, that the mass resettlement of millions of refugees from other conflicts is morally acceptable to the international community. The world must end this double standard. ...
Clearly, many Gazans have no recourse but to leave voluntarily. However, by keeping Gaza's southern border sealed, Egypt has blocked their exit. Yet while calling for "Israeli restraint," Blinken has not once called on Egypt or the Arab world in general to accept and aid Gaza civilians who wish to leave. ...
A U.S. policy concerned with the quality of life of Gaza civilians—and with peace in general—would enable Gazans to live better lives in countries amenable to their racist ideology, far from the Jews they want to massacre.
