Before the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, said that the Palestinians had “no alternative” than to leave Gaza. When the two leaders met in the oval office, Trump said that after the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip are moved elsewhere, the United States “takes over”. The president also expressed his desire to transform the territory occupied by Israeli into “Riviera du Middle East”.
These surreal statements were pronounced on Tuesday as the Palestinians through the Gaza Strip face an unprecedented destruction left by the Israeli army. Many of those who have been moved and have managed to return home in the past two weeks only found ruins. According to the United Nations, the Israeli army has bombed 90% of all the accommodation in the Gaza Strip, leaving 160,000 units destroyed and 276,000 seriously or partially damaged.
While dust sets in and the images of the devastation are circulating on traditional media, it has become clear that Israeli genocidal violence has triggered Gaza has not only been used to kill, move and destroy , but also to undermine the law of the Palestinian population. And it is precisely the possibility of obtaining this right that the Trump-Netanyahu duo is now determined to prevent.
Stand
The right to remain is not officially recognized in the Canon of Human Rights and is generally associated with refugees who have fled their country and are allowed to stay in a host country while looking for asylum. It has also been invoked in the context of so -called urban renovation projects in which largely marginalized and inserted urban residents require their right to stay at home and among their community in the face of the pressure of powerful actors who push redevelopment and gentrification. The right to stay is particularly urgent in colonial situations of the settlers where the colonizers actively move the indigenous population and try to replace them with settlers. From First Nations of North America to Aboriginals and islanders of the Torres Strait in Australia, the colonists used genocidal violence to refuse indigenous peoples of this right.
The right to remain, however, is not just the right to “stay in place”. On the contrary, to take advantage of this right, people must be able to stay within their community and have access to material and social “existence infrastructure”, including water and food, hospitals, Schools, places of worship and means of subsistence. Without these infrastructure, the right to stay becomes impossible.
Beyond the simple physical presence, the right to remain also included the right to maintain historical and contemporary stories and the paintings of relationships that keep people and communities in place and in time. This is a crucial aspect of this right because the project of the colonial colonists aims not only the physical elimination and the replacement of indigenous peoples, but also seeks to erase cultures, stories and indigenous identities as well as everything attachment to earth. Finally, it cannot be sufficient to be authorized to remain as a rescued occupied in a besieged territory. The right to stay understands the ability of a people to determine their own destiny.
A story of permanent displacement
During the 1948 war, the Palestinian cities were depopulated and around 500 Palestinian villages were destroyed because most of their inhabitants became refugees in neighboring countries. In total, around 750,000 Palestinians out of 900,000 inhabitants were moved from their ancestral homes and lands and were never allowed to return. Since then, the displacement or the threat of displacement has been part of the daily Palestinian experience. Indeed, throughout the occupied West Bank and even in Israel in places like Umm Al Hiran, the Palestinian communities continue to be uprooted and removed from their land and prevented from returning.
The Israeli denial supported by the United States of the right to stay in the Gaza Strip is much worse – not only because many communities are made up of refugees and it is their second, third or fourth trip – but also because Movement has now become a genocide tool. As early as October 13, 2023, Israel issued a collective evacuation order at 1.1 million Palestinians living north of Wadi Gaza, and in the following months, similar orders were issued repeatedly, finally shifting 90% the population of the band.
Admittedly, international humanitarian law obliges the parties at war to protect civilian populations, which includes allowing them to pass war areas to safe areas. However, these provisions are informed by the hypothesis that populations have the right to stay at home and, therefore, stipulate that evacuated must be allowed to return to the end of the fighting, making any form of permanent displacement illegal. The transfer of the population must be temporary and can only be used for humanitarian protection and relief and not, as Israel has used it and the recent comments of Trump are strengthening, a “humanitarian camouflage” to cover the wholesale destruction and the implementation of Palestinian spaces.
The right to stay and self -determination
Now that a ceasefire has been declared, the displaced Palestinians are able to return where they lived. However, this movement does not satisfy their right to remain. It is not a coincidence: the ability to stay is precisely what Israel has aimed to eradicate in 15 months of war.
The Razing of Schools, Universities, Mosques, Shops and Street Markets, Cemeteries and Libraries AlongSide The Destruction of Roads, Wells, Electricity Grids, Greenhouses and Fishing Vessels was not only Carried Out in the Service of Killings and the Temporal Cleansing of areas of their inhabitants but also to create a new reality on the ground, especially in the north of Gaza. Thus, it is not only that the Palestinian houses have been destroyed, but that the very existence of the population will also be compromised for the coming years.
This is not a new thing. We have seen through history how the colonists act to move and eliminate the indigenous populations from their territories. Learning from these stories, we know that financial investment in the reconstruction of houses and infrastructure will not ensure – in itself – the right to remain of the population. Staying requires self -determination. To implement their right to stay, the Palestinians must finally gain their freedom as self -determinated people.
Israel has denied the Palestinians their right to stay for more than 75 years. It is high time to put things right. Any discussion on the future of Gaza must be guided by the demands and aspirations of the Palestinian people. The promises of reconstruction and economic prosperity by foreign countries are not relevant, unless they are explicitly linked to Palestinian self -determination. The right to stay can only be guaranteed by decolonization and Palestinian release.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Tel Aviv Tribune.