Trump's plan for ethnic cleansing of Gaza

Early this month US President Donald Trump announced that the US would take over the Gaza Strip and develop the land as "the Riviera of the Middle East" and send 2.3 million Palestinians elsewhere but not to the US as he offered the Afrikaners (white South Africans) to move to the US from South Africa. He also clearly indicated that the Palestinians would have no right to return to Gaza but people from all over the world would be able to move to Gaza.

He declined to rule out sending US troops to make it happen. Trump further clarified his position and said that the US would seize Gaza as its own territory. According to the Wahington Post (February 5) for Trump, Gaza becomes the latest target of US manifest destiny. Trump's plan reminds us of the dark days of colonial conquest.

Trump also indicated where he wanted the Palestinians to move "I think I could make a deal with Jordan. I could make a deal with Egypt". Possibly Trump in his mind had some Arab leaders collaboration with the British enabling the British and the French to colonise the Levant on the basis of the secret Sykes-Picot agreement of 1916. In particular, the colonisation of Palestine by the British facilitated to give shape to the Balfour Declaration of 1917 in creating the racist apartheid colonial settler state called Israel in Palestine by displacing Palestinians in 1948.

Trump's hostility toward Palestine and Palestinians is also nothing new. During his first term, he closed the PLO's office in Washington, D.C. and stopped funding for UNRWA, the agency that supports Palestinian refugees. Trump moved the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

In fact, Israel was forged out of the forced expulsion of Palestinians from their land which resulted in more than 700,000 Palestinians forced out of their homes by Israeli forces. Israel passed laws it still uses to confiscate their property. On last Monday (February 17), Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered the creation of a directorate in the Defence Ministry tasked with overseeing the implementation of the plan announced by US President to ethnically cleanse Gaza.

More importantly, Jordanian King Abdulla II throughout the US backed Israeli genocide kept the Israeli supply line in full operation through Jordan when Israel faced supply disruptions from other Arab countries like Yemen. He also joined Israel to shoot down Iranian missiles fired at Israel in retaliation for Israel's assassinations of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. King Abdullah II and his betrayal of the Palestinians is apparent to all. Both Egypt and Jordan maintained Israel's blockade of Gaza and worked strenuously to demobilise the widespread opposition within their own countries.

Also, in occupied West Bank, the Israeli armed forces have instituted widespread closures, bombed Jenin refugee camp and destroyed residential buildings and public infrastructure. The Israeli defence minister said "Jenin is only the beginning" and there will be "more operations in other parts of the West Bank".

President Trump hosted Jordan's King Abdullah II at the White House on February 11 and renewed his suggestions that Gaza could be emptied of residents, controlled by the U.S. and redeveloped as a tourist area, an idea originally floated by Jared Kushner. Jordan along with other Arab states including Egypt, however, has rejected Trump's plan to relocate civilians from Gaza fearing that would destabilise Egypt and Jordan.

Trump announced his plan alongside his ally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who praised Trump's proposal as "revolutionary and creative". He also praised Trump as "the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House" and then said "it is worth paying attention to this" idea, adding further that it was "something that could change history".

In fact, this has always been an Israeli aim to depopulate Gaza of Palestinians. Many Israeli officials have called for the same plan, in exactly the same language for over a year. Trump, in effect, was merely stating openly the actual policy of the Israeli government. This is just the latest iteration of efforts aimed at ethnically cleansing Palestinians from their homeland. Trump's remarks suggest his foreign policy on Palestine will remain largely unchanged from his predecessor's.

On February 16 the Israeli finance minister raised the possibility of the imminent implementation of Trump's plan for Gaza. Last week US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem and both men pledged to work together to implement Trump's plan for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza. Also, from the Israeli perspective displacing Palestinians from Gaza would put an end to Palestinian statehood.

Many leaders across the world have also warned that displacing Palestinians from Gaza would destabilise the entire Middle East. Trump's comments could derail the attempts to bring about an end to fighting in Gaza.

Meanwhile, the UN has warned that any forced displacement of civilians from occupied territory is strictly prohibited under international law and "tantamount to ethnic cleansing". UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres also said, "any forced displacement of people is tantamount to ethnic cleansing". Germany's chancellor Olaf Scholz also strongly criticised Trump's plan calling it "absurd".

Responding to Trump's plan, Human Rights Watch stated that it "would move the US from being complicit in war crimes to direct perpetration of atrocities". The executive director of Amnesty International USA added that "removing all Palestinians from Gaza is tantamount to destroying them as a people. Gaza is their home. Gaza's death and destruction is a result of the government of Israel killing civilians by the thousands, often with US bombs".

Hamas also declared that Trump's remarks were "absurd' and reflected "deep ignorance of Palestine and the region". Hamas also made it clear that Gaza is an integral part of occupied Palestinian land. Hamas fighters remain in operational position even after 16 months of fighting and still overseeing the civilian administration in Gaza.

Mahmoud Abbas, Head of Palestinian Authority in the West Bank also strongly rejected any plans to displace Palestinians from Gaza, saying, "We will not allow any infringement of the rights of our people, which we have struggled for decades and made great sacrifices to achieve." The US President's plan to take over Gaza and displace its Palestinian residents has been opposed by Arab states as well.

Trump's call for depopulating Gaza of Palestinians and to relocate them elsewhere permanently aims at paving the way to fulfil the Israeli dream to create Eretz Yisrael (the greater Israel) which involves annexing all the Palestinian territories and expand borders into Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.

Trump's Gaza Plan violates numerous principles of international law. Already the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. This is the first time that Netanyahu has been indicted by an international court for the ongoing war on Gaza.

Many already are branding Trump's Gaza plan a second Balfour Declaration. Trump's Gaza plan will also set a very dangerous precedent and would encourage authoritarian leaders around the world to do similarly and contribute to a global breakdown of peace and security.

According to many experts in international law his plan to permanently move millions of Palestinians out of Gaza constitute ethnic cleansing which could amount to a war crime or crime against humanity. In fact, international law is very clear on the forced deportation or transfer of a civilian population. It is a violation of international humanitarian law, a war crime, and a crime against humanity. The mass deportation of civilians from occupied territory was recognised as a war crime under the Geneva Convention of 1949.

It is the responsibility of all governments around the world to condemn this dangerous plan, and do everything possible to halt it. Palestinians should be allowed to return home in Gaza, receive help in rebuilding Gaza, and live in peace. Meanwhile, Arab and international solidarity with the Palestinian people is getting stronger by the days which will help further strengthen Palestinian resistance against Israeli aggression and occupation.

muhammad.mahmood47@gmail.com