A new Israeli initiative by MKs Mish Atid and the Likud calls for a plan that will allow refugees from the Gaza Strip to voluntarily move to countries that agree to absorb them.
According to the plan, published Tuesday morning in the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal, in order to deal with the refugee problem created in the Gaza Strip as a result of the war, a structured mechanism must be established that will include coordination between the countries involved, which, according to the MKs, can and should assist the refugees with an economic aid package in order to help them settle properly in the country to which they will move.
The initiative calls on international organizations to help transfer interested Gazans to countries that will accept them. In the article, they wrote that according to the votes of support for the Palestinians of many UN member states, they are not supposed to oppose helping the Gazans – and that it is enough for even a few countries to accede to the request to absorb Palestinians from the Gaza Strip in order to help in the process, and of course to help those who want to remain in those countries.
Gazans moving from north to south of the Gaza Strip under IDF supervision, yesterday // Photo: IDF Spokesperson
In response to the article, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich welcomed the initiative, which he defined as "the right humanitarian solution for the residents of Gaza and the entire region, after 75 years of refugees, poverty and danger." He added: "Most of Gaza's population is the fourth and fifth generation of the refugees of '48, who, instead of being rehabilitated long ago on a personal and human basis like hundreds of millions of refugees all over the world, were held hostage in Gaza in poverty and overcrowding, and were a symbol of the aspiration for the destruction of the State of Israel and the return of the refugees to Jaffa, Haifa, Acre and Tiberias. This is also the reason for the intense hatred on whose knees the population of Gaza grows and is educated for the State of Israel and the Jews, a hatred that alone can explain the cruelty of the terrible massacre perpetrated by Hamas against Israeli civilians, since Israel was the source of all their distresses, and therefore in its destruction lies the solution."
"A cell has no small area like the Gaza Strip, without natural resources and independent sources of livelihood, no chance of living independently, economically and politically, in such a densely populated manner over time," he said. "Therefore, the absorption of the refugees by countries of the world that truly desire their welfare, with the generous support and economic assistance of the international community, including the State of Israel, is the only solution that will bring an end to the suffering and pain of Jews and Arabs alike. The State of Israel will no longer be able to accept the existence of an independent entity in Gaza, which inherently relies on hatred of Israel and its desire to destroy it."
Gazans moving from north to south of the Gaza Strip, yesterday, Photo: Reuters
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