No to a second Nakba

Editorial

Israel expelled the majority of the Palestinian population from their homes in the northern Gaza Strip in the first weeks of the war, under the pretext of preserving their safety during the ground invasion (“maneuver”) of the Israeli army in its war against Hamas. 

While the new refugees were congregating in Rafah, Israel destroyed a large part of Gaza City and its suburbs, demolishing homes, shops, schools, universities and government institutions. The one-kilometre-wide area of the Gaza Strip along the border has undergone a “clearance” process, removing houses, roads and trees, in order to use the area in a safe manner in the future and prevent Palestinians from entering it. 

The Israeli army built a road to divide the Strip into two parts, along which a type of border crossing will be established between the north and south of the Strip.

The Palestinians who remained in the northern Gaza Strip are clinging to their destroyed homes, and are at risk of starvation, despite UN warnings, and Israel refuses to transfer supplies to them, via the shorter route, through the closed Erez crossing. 

As for the negotiations with Hamas regarding the ceasefire deal and the exchange of kidnapped persons and prisoners, Israel refused to allow the return of all refugees to the northern Gaza Strip, and only allowed the return of women and children in the first stage. There are increasing voices in Israel calling for turning the occupation of the northern Gaza Strip into a permanent reality, similar to the situation in the West Bank, and establishing settlements for Jews in place of Palestinian villages and cities that were destroyed in the war.

Today, these votes are shared by far-right parties, such as “Jewish Power” and “Religious Zionism,” and a large number of members of the Likud Party. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who declared at the beginning of the war his opposition to Jewish settlement in Gaza, is now talking about a continued presence in the Strip, and opposes the establishment of any Palestinian authority there on “the day after the war.”

The decision to expel the residents, destroy their homes, expose the border area, and build the road separating the north from the south, was taken in closed rooms, and in light of the ambiguity of war, and calls for revenge against the Palestinians for the “massacre” of October 7 in the cover settlements. 

The government and the army have refrained from informing the public about this, and most information about the situation on the ground is obtained from international bodies and media, or from satellite images. The more time passes, the greater the impression that expulsion and destruction will become a permanent reality, and that the residents of the northern Gaza Strip will become refugees like their fathers, the refugees of the 1948 Nakba.

This war, whose purpose was to eliminate Hamas and return the kidnapped people to Israel, and these two goals were not achieved even after five months, must not turn into a second Nakba for the Palestinians. Israel's future, security and prosperity lie in coexistence with the Palestinians and with all neighboring Arab countries, not in creating a new wave of refugees who will swear revenge. 

The continuation of the occupation and the establishment of settlements in the Gaza Strip constitute a war crime and a moral crime. They will deepen the conflict and make Israel an isolated state in the world.