Israel: "What? We're just cleaning up Gaza's streets."
On October 17, the Misgav Institute for National Security & Zionist Strategy published a position paper advocating for the "relocation and final settlement of the entire Gaza population." The report advocates exploiting the current moment to accomplish a long-held Zionist goal of moving Palestinians off the land of historic Palestine. The report's subtitle makes it clear: "There is at the moment a unique and rare opportunity to evacuate the whole Gaza Strip in coordination with the Egyptian government."
The Misgav Institute is headed by former Netanyahu National Security Advisor Meir Ben Shabbat, who remains influential in Israeli security circles. The Institute's former chairpersons and founding associates include Yoaz Hendel (chair 2012-19), a right-centrist who was Minister of Communications intermittently in the years 2020-22; Moshe Yaalon, former Defense Minister (note that both Hendel and Yaalon have become opposed to Netanyahu in the recent years); Moshe Arens, also former Defense Minister — and other top political personas.
Comment: The translated tweet:
Position paper: A plan for resettlement and final rehabilitation in Egypt of the entire population of Gaza: economic aspects
by Amir Weitman
Main points:
- There is currently a unique and rare opportunity to evacuate the entire Gaza Strip in coordination with the Egyptian government. An immediate, realistic and sustainable plan for the resettlement and humanitarian rehabilitation of the entire Arab population in the Gaza Strip is required which aligns well with the economic and geopolitical interests of Israel, Egypt, the USA and Saudi Arabia.
- In 2017, it was reported that there are about 10 million vacant housing units in Egypt, of which about half are built and half are under construction. For example, in the two largest satellite cities of Cairo, "The 6th of October" and "The 10th of Ramadan", there is a huge amount of built and empty apartments owned by the government and privately and construction areas sufficient to house about 6 million inhabitants.
- The average cost of a 3-room apartment with an area of 95 square meters for an average Gazan family consisting of 5.14 people in one of the two cities indicated above is about $19,000. Taking into account the currently known size of the entire population living in the Gaza Strip, which ranges from about 1.4 For approximately 2.2 million people, it can be estimated that the total amount that will be required to be transferred to Egypt to finance the project will be on the order of 5 to 8 billion dollars.
- Throwing an immediate stimulus at such a height to the Egyptian economy would provide a tremendous and immediate benefit to al-Sisi's regime. These sums of money, in relation to the Israeli economy, are minimal. Investing a few billion dollars (even if it is 20 or 30 billion dollars) to solve this difficult issue is an innovative, cheap and sustainable solution.
- There is no doubt that in order for this plan to come to fruition, many conditions must exist at the same time. Currently, these conditions are met and it is unclear when such an opportunity will arise again, if ever.
To read the full paper (in Hebrew).© Misgav Institute for National Security & Zionist StrategyIsrael's plan to expel the Gaza Palestinians into Egypt
The main arguments of the report, which the Institute highlighted on social media upon the report's release, are translated as follows:
It appears that this ethnic-cleansing plan is based on a similar logic to that of the "Abraham Accords," involving the infusion of massive sums towards despotic regimes to write off the Palestinian issue. But this time, it is not just about slow annexation and bantustanization through "economic peace" — but advocating for the complete population transfer of Palestinians from Gaza.
- There is a need for an immediate, viable plan for the resettlement and economic rehabilitation of the entire Arab population in the Gaza Strip, which sits well with the geopolitical interests of Israel, Egypt, U.S.A. and Saudi Arabia.
- In 2017 it was reported that in Egypt there were 10 million available apartment units, of which half were built and half under construction. For example, in two of the biggest Cairo satellite cities, "October 6" and "Ramadan 10" there is an immense number of built and empty apartments under governmental and private ownership as well as empty lots for building that would in total suffice the housing of about 6 million residents.
- The average cost of a three-room apartment of 95 square meters for an average Gaza family of 5.14 people in one of the two mentioned cities stands at $19,000. In calculating the total population that resides in the Gaza Strip, which stands between 1.4-2.2 million people, it is possible to assess that the amount that would need to be transferred to Egypt in order to finance would be around $5 to 8 billion.
- An encouraging injection to the Egyptian economy at this magnitude would provide an enormous and immediate advantage to [Egyptian President] El-Sisi's regime. Such money sums, compared to the Israeli economy, are miniscule. The investment of a mere few billions of dollars (even if it is $20 or 30 billion) in order to solve this difficult issue is an innovative, cheap and viable solution.
- There is no doubt that in order for this plan to be enacted, many conditions need to exist in parallel. At the moment, these conditions exist, and it is unclear when such an opportunity will arise again, if at all.
Previous calls for ethnic cleansing
It is not the first time that suggestions for a full ethnic cleansing have appeared from Israeli analysts or even politicians. In the midst of the 2014 Gaza onslaught, Moshe Feiglin, who was then part of Likud and deputy chair of the Knesset, sent Netanyahu a public, 7-point proposal for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza. He repeated the genocidal advocacy in 2018. Feiglin is now a libertarian politician. In a recent interview on Channel 14, Feiglin called for a "Dresden" on Gaza (referring to the WW2 firebombing of Dresden in February 1945, killing some 25,000 people) — "a storm of fire on all of Gaza!" he proclaimed, demanding to "not leave stone on stone" and emphasizing "total fire!" and "the end of ends!"
Benny Morris
"If you are asking me whether I support the transfer and expulsion of the Arabs from the West Bank, Gaza and perhaps even from Galilee and the Triangle, I say not at this moment. I am not willing to be a partner to that act. In the present circumstances it is neither moral nor realistic. The world would not allow it, the Arab world would not allow it, it would destroy the Jewish society from within. But I am ready to tell you that in other circumstances, apocalyptic ones, which are liable to be realized in five or ten years, I can see expulsions."Thus, the Misgav report would seem not only to be arguing that to forcibly displace the Palestinian population from Gaza but that, similar to the conditions that Morris laid out, this is a historic opportunity to do it.
Israeli support
Since October 7, calls for flattening Gaza have been rampant among the Israeli leadership and widely espoused across the population. On October 12, Israeli Channel 12 published a report about how the desire to ethnically cleanse Gaza has taken hold in Israeli popular culture:
"People from the political left and center have called for the flattening of Gaza this week. A very short post fantasizing about a nature party that would take place on what was Gaza land received 100 thousand likes and 60 thousand shares". The young Tel-Aviv woman who posted on Instagram had only 700 followers, but then the post "exploded". She claims to be a centrist who "has always sanctified human rights, compassion is the first emotion that is activated in me", she says. "I do not want to kill Gazan babies, I never hated Arabs and it's not like I started hating them this week. But after what happened, I say to the Gaza residents - your babies are your problem".This sentiment seems to match quite well with broad calls from Israeli politicians for collective punishment, which have been coming from across the political spectrum, including those considered centrist or liberal.
Meanwhile, while the world's eyes are on Gaza, ethnic cleansing is also being realized in the West Bank by Israeli settlers and soldiers. The terrorizing of mostly rural Palestinian communities in the West Bank had resulted in the uprooting of several communities before October 7 but has accelerated greatly since, with some 545 Palestinians forcibly displaced from at least 13 communities since October 7, according to information from the West Bank Protection Consortium (WBPC) and Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din (cited by Al Jazeera). The murderous settler attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank have gotten relatively little attention, like the murder of four Palestinians in Qusra on October 11 and then the murder of a Palestinian father and his son at the funeral. The number of killed Palestinians in the West Bank since October 7 is nearing 100 — in two weeks — an unfathomable pace.
Thus, these times are exceptionally dangerous for Palestinians. The Hamas attack seems to have reignited long-standing Zionist wishes, and now some want to exploit this public mood in support of a massive ethnic cleansing campaign. It doesn't mean that it will happen all at once, but as mentioned, in some places, it has already begun.
Reader Comments
The Z-‘s I am reminded by so many Christian zealot friends, are gods chosen ones….sure they are I tell them, lets see how that works out for them….BOOM !
Everyone has seen the newks...on TV and even though the TV is full of lies, the polititions are full of lies, the Israelis are full of lies....we must believe them on this all the time everytime.
To be fair though, people in the past held banks up with a bananna in a sock, but then they knew the cashier wasn't going to call out such a bluff.