Israeli minister urges Palestinians to abandon Gaza to help 'desert bloom'

Bộ trưởng Israel kêu gọi dân Palestine bỏ Gaza để giúp sa mạc nở hoa - 1 — A woman behind a plastic curtain at a camp for displaced Palestinians in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza (Photo: AFP).

“What needs to be done in the Gaza Strip is to encourage migration,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told Army Radio on New Year’s Day 2023. “If there were only 100,000 or 200,000 Arabs in Gaza instead of 2 million, the whole discussion about the future (of Gaza) would be completely different.”

The official said that if the 2.3 million Palestinians were no longer there and "grew up with the desire to destroy the state of Israel", Israelis would have a different view of Gaza.

“Most of Israeli society would say, ‘Why not, it’s such a beautiful place, let’s make the desert bloom,’” Mr Smotrich said.

Mr Smotrich, who belongs to the far-right Religious Zionist Party, has made similar comments in the past, putting him at odds with Israel's most important ally, the United States.

However, Mr. Smotrich's view does not represent the official position of the Israeli government that Gazans can return home after the war with Hamas ends.

"Contrary to false allegations, Israel is not seeking to relocate people in Gaza," an official in the Israeli Prime Minister's Office told the AP after Smotrich's statement.

Support for Mr Smotrich's party, which helped Mr Benjamin Netanyahu win the majority needed to become Israel's prime minister for a sixth term in elections nearly a year ago, has fallen since the start of the conflict in Gaza.

Bộ trưởng Israel kêu gọi dân Palestine bỏ Gaza để giúp sa mạc nở hoa - 2 — Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Photo: Reuters).

Israel established settlements inside Gaza but dismantled them in 2005, when the Israeli military ended its 38-year occupation of the strip. Most Israelis disapprove of the reestablishment of settlements in Gaza, according to recent polls.

The United Nations still considers the Gaza Strip to be Palestinian territory occupied by Israel because it controls all the crossings there, except for one between Gaza and Egypt.

The comments by Mr Smotrich, who has been sidelined in discussions on Gaza's post-war future, have raised concerns among most Arab countries that Israel wants to drive Palestinians out of their homeland, in a repeat of the 1948 crisis.

The 1948 crisis occurred after Israel declared the establishment of a state, resulting in hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fleeing or being driven from their homeland.

On the same day, December 31, 2023, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rejected any action to expel Palestinians. "We will not accept the forced departure of people, whether from the Gaza Strip or the West Bank," he said.

Hamas also affirmed that the people of Gaza "will stand firm and steadfast against any move to displace them from their lands and homes".

Arab leaders say any move to expel Palestinians now is unacceptable.

The United States opposes Israel's reoccupation of the Gaza Strip and also opposes the forced expulsion of Palestinians living there.

The US is calling for reform of the Palestinian Authority (PA) - internationally recognised as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people - to govern the post-war Gaza Strip, despite opposition from Prime Minister Netanyahu.

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