1/4/2024–|Last updated: 1/4/202403:33 PM (Mecca time)
Today, Thursday, Qatar and Saudi Arabia denounced in the strongest terms the statements of the Israeli Ministers of Finance and National Security, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, regarding the displacement of the population of Gaza, the reoccupation of the Gaza Strip, and the construction of settlements there, and they considered the statements a violation of international laws.
The Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the Israeli statements are an extension of the occupation’s approach to violating the rights of the Palestinian people and blocking the path to peace and the two-state solution.
The Qatari Foreign Ministry stressed that the policy of collective punishment and forced displacement practiced by the occupation authorities against the residents of Gaza will not change the fact that Gaza is Palestinian land, and will remain Palestinian.
For its part, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs described in a statement the statements of Israeli officials as “extremist” and stressed the need for international cooperation to activate mechanisms to hold Israel accountable and its violation of international and humanitarian law.
Smotrich and Ben Gvir were vocal in calling for the displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
Last Monday, Ben Gvir called for the return of settlers to the Gaza Strip after the end of the war, and for the displacement of the Palestinian population to countries that would accept them as refugees.
The official Israeli Broadcasting Authority also quoted Smotrich as saying, “More than 70% of the Israeli public supports a humanitarian solution to encourage the voluntary immigration of Gaza Arabs and their absorption in other countries.”
He added, “Israeli society will not agree to the continuation of this reality in Gaza. We are required to rethink and participate with our friends in the international community.”
Smotrich claimed that a million people in Gaza wake up every morning with a desire to destroy Israel, and explained that the context would be different if there were 100,000 or 200,000 Arabs in Gaza instead of two million.
Smotrich, the leader of the far-right Religious Zionism party, is a settler in the West Bank and supports settlement. In 2005, he opposed Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, and in recent weeks he has expressed support for re-settlement in the Strip.
The two ministers’ statements sparked condemnation by European Union Foreign Policy Coordinator Josep Borrell. They were also rejected by Germany and France, who described them as “useless and provocative.”
Earlier, the US State Department confirmed Washington’s rejection of Smotrich and Ben Gvir’s statements regarding the “voluntary” displacement of Palestinians out of Gaza. The two ministers responded, yesterday, Wednesday, by criticizing the United States for describing their statements as “irresponsible.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said earlier that he was working on the “voluntary migration” of Gazans, and was looking for countries that could host them, after putting forward a proposal to displace Gazans to the Egyptian Sinai at the beginning of the war.