GAZA, (PIC)
The new American president, Donald Trump, opened his presidency—just one day after the ceasefire agreement between the Israeli occupation entity and Palestinian resistance factions led by Hamas—by declaring his intention to move forward with a plan to displace the residents of the Gaza Strip to both Egypt and Jordan. He repeatedly echoed this proposal in every speech he made, despite the persistent official rejection from all Arab countries, and prior to that, the Palestinians themselves rejected this proposal under any name.
The language used by Trump and his new administration varied between enticing Palestinians with a better life after the destruction caused by the war waged by Israel—with full American support—over more than 15 months, suggesting they could not remain in this devastated territory while they could live in other safer and more prosperous places. Additionally, there were threats that rejecting this plan would result in America unleashing the occupation to launch a new aggression against the Gaza Strip and its inhabitants. However, all the language employed by the U.S. administration found acceptance only from the leadership of the occupation entity, while Palestinians mocked it, and other countries worldwide, including pro-Israel Europe, rejected it.
Fears and experiences
These calls may have raised fears among many concerned with the Palestinian issue who witnessed the horrific genocide that turned the Gaza Strip into a mere shadow, where the most heinous types of massacres in modern history took place, resulting in over 170,000 Palestinian martyrs and injured. This paints a picture of the American ability—leading the occupation—to do as it pleases against Arabs and Palestinians without deterrent or accountability. Yet, the pages of history intervene to dispel this illusion, which is not new but dates back decades of conflict when the occupation, exploited all means, attempted to implement a displacement plan against the residents of the Gaza Strip. However, each time, it failed due to the resilience of the Palestinians and their attachment to their land, no matter how tempting the offers or how fierce the strikes against them.
In a report published by “Israel Hayom” a few days ago, it was stated that the displacement of Palestinians from their homeland is not a new idea; it dates back over six decades as part of a secret plan to be implemented. The Israeli government used this plan to encourage migration from the Gaza Strip after the Six-Day War in 1967 in exchange for economic benefits, a system established during the tenure of Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol.
The veteran Israeli journalist Nadav Shragai mentioned in this report that this mechanism was chaired by Aharon Sereni, the wife of the Zionist Enzo Sereni, who was a prominent figure in the “Aliyah Bet” operations— the code name for the illegal immigration of Jews, many of whom were refugees fleeing Nazi Germany or other countries under Nazi control, and later Holocaust survivors, to Mandatory Palestine between 1920 and 1948.
“Israel Hayom” extensively reviewed historical evidence of Jewish plans to displace Palestinians, referred to as “transfer,” which encompasses a series of operations and measures undertaken by armed Zionist groups and successive Israeli governments up to the present day to expel as many non-Jewish inhabitants as possible from lands they want to annex or have already annexed, aiming to maintain the Jewish character of the state.
Notable displacement plans over the past decades:
- Alon Plan (1967)
Proposed by Israeli politician and military leader Yigal Allon, this plan aimed to establish secure borders for Israel with Jordan, halt Israeli control over an Arab population segment to retain the Jewish and democratic character of the state, and achieve the alleged historical claim of the Israeli people to what they call “the Land of Israel.” Regarding the Gaza Strip, the proposal was to annex the entire Gaza Strip to Israel and displace refugees to neighboring Arab lands in Egypt after returning Sinai to Egypt while retaining the southeastern coastline of Sinai under Israeli control. - Sharon Plan (1970)
Ariel Sharon, then an Israeli military leader and later Prime Minister, proposed a plan in 1970 to empty the Gaza Strip of its residents, relocating hundreds of Palestinian families in military buses to areas like Sinai, which was under Israeli occupation, while directing others towards Al-Arish on the Gaza border. His plan included granting permits to Palestinians wishing to leave Gaza for study and work in Egypt and providing financial incentives to encourage this, with the aim of altering the demographic distribution in Gaza to eliminate resistance and ease overcrowding. - Eiland Plan (2004)
Proposed by Zionist National Security Advisor Giora Eiland, this plan called for Egypt to cede areas of Sinai to the Gaza Strip, totaling 720 square kilometers. In exchange for this land, Palestinians would cede 12% of the West Bank to Israel, including major settlement blocs and the outskirts of Jerusalem. - Ben Aryeh Plan (2013)
Proposed by former Hebrew University president Yoshua Ben Aryeh, this plan suggested establishing an alternative homeland for Palestinians in Sinai based on land swaps between Egypt, Israel, and Palestine, similar to Eiland’s proposal, but with a focus on creating a large city and robust infrastructure in Sinai. - Secret Document for the Israeli Intelligence Ministry
Following the “Al-Aqsa Flood” battle, Israeli Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel called for a plan to displace Gaza’s residents to Sinai after the war against the Gaza Strip. This document outlined steps to create tent cities in Sinai and a humanitarian corridor to assist the population, ultimately leading to the establishment of fortified areas where displaced residents could not return to the Gaza Strip.
“Israel Hayom” reports that Israeli government activity has not been limited to encouraging voluntary migration from the Gaza Strip after the Six-Day War and in the early years of statehood, but even during the war that Israel named “Operation Iron Swords” in response to Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023. According to journalist Shragai, Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instilled the idea of voluntary displacement of Palestinians in Donald Trump’s mind during their meeting months before he assumed the U.S. presidency.
Zero chances
Beyond these statistics, the pivotal question Shragai poses in his report is whether the support of the leader of the world’s greatest superpower will lead to the implementation of organized plans for the voluntary displacement from the Gaza Strip, which Israel is currently attempting to carry out in coordination with the Americans. He answers that if Professor Gilber—who has conducted extensive research on migration, displacement, and the voluntary or forced movements of populations—were asked about the chances of successfully implementing voluntary displacement from the Palestinian Gaza Strip, he would affirm that they are “slim to none.”
The report concludes that instead of the usual questioning and debate about whether voluntary or forced displacement is an ethical act, the question now is whether it is genuinely a practical and realistic measure or merely a mirage. Historical and current plans that have attempted (and continue to attempt) to succeed in displacing Palestinians from the Gaza Strip have varied in their mechanisms, but their outcome remains failure for one reason: the Palestinians’ steadfastness to their homeland and their rejection of the idea of displacement. This was affirmed by the “Israel Hayom” report, which described the Palestinians’ insistence on returning to their homes and their strong opposition to emigration as two sides of the same coin. They reject the idea of transfer not only because they have not given up on returning but also to avoid experiencing a new “Nakba” that would entail suffering on them for generations to come, this time with the backing of the world’s greatest superpower, replacing the “Nakba of 1948,” which remains a symbol of Palestinian identity and narrative.
