International human rights activists, during a conference in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, on Thursday, condemned calls for the “forced displacement” of Palestinians, stressing that attempts to transfer the residents of the Gaza Strip constitute a “flagrant violation of international law,” especially the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

At the initiative of the National Council for Human Rights in Egypt, Cairo hosted a human rights conference, with the participation of Arab and international human rights organizations, including the Arab Network for National Institutions, the Independent Commission for Human Rights in Palestine, the Palestinian Al Mezan Center, and the Afro-Asian Solidarity Organization, in addition to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese.

The conference affirmed “support for Arab positions that reject forced displacement plans, especially the positions of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the Emirates,” and stressed, according to the closing statement, the need to “confront attempts to displace Palestinians by supporting their rights and holding accountable those who commit crimes against them,” in addition to “supporting their right to independence.”

Arab countries have announced their rejection of calls by US President Donald Trump and Israeli officials to “displace” Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

The conference aimed to discuss the challenges and dangers of the plans to “displace” Palestinians to neighboring Arab countries, in addition to “mobilizing international and regional efforts to combat the crimes of forced displacement and Israeli violations against the Palestinian people,” according to the Egyptian National Council for Human Rights.

According to the final statement, international human rights activists condemned “Israeli policies aimed at continuing aggression, settlement and forced displacement,” and stressed “the need to hold accountable those who committed crimes against the Palestinian people, and to provide protection for civilians,” and “held Israel responsible for the necessary compensation for the Palestinians.”

The conference recommendations stressed support for reconstruction plans in Gaza, and Egyptian and Arab efforts to restore life in the Strip, and also stressed “the necessity of supporting the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).”

Egypt intends to "present a comprehensive vision for the reconstruction of Gaza in a way that guarantees the Palestinians' continued presence on their land," and has called for an emergency Arab summit to discuss the "new and dangerous" developments in the Palestinian issue.

The participants pledged to submit the conference outcomes to international and regional organizations, especially the United Nations, the International Court of Justice, the European Union, the African Union, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, as part of efforts to mobilize international efforts to confront displacement plans.

The Secretary-General of the Arab Network of National Human Rights Institutions, Sultan bin Hassan Al-Jamali, considered that confronting calls for displacement “comes by supporting the steadfastness of the Palestinian people, empowering them to their land, and supporting their right to independence.” In his speech at the conference, he pointed out “the importance of mobilizing human rights efforts to oppose attempts to suppress the rights and freedoms of the Palestinians.”

Meanwhile, the head of the Arab Organization for Human Rights, Alaa Shalabi, referred to “documenting the crimes of the Israeli occupation against the Palestinians, based on the testimonies of the injured Gazans, during their treatment in Egyptian hospitals,” adding that “the conference aims to unify the efforts of human rights activists, in supporting the rights of the Palestinian people.”

The Secretary-General of the National Council for Human Rights in Egypt, Fahmy Fayed, called for the necessity of “the Israeli occupation to bear the responsibility of compensating the Palestinian people for the crimes committed against them, and the destruction of hospitals, schools and infrastructure in Gaza.”

The conference reflected a legal alignment to oppose calls to displace Palestinians, according to lawyer and member of the National Council for Human Rights in Egypt, Abdel Gawad Ahmed, who told Asharq Al-Awsat that one of the conference’s gains was “issuing a unified legal position supporting the Arab political position rejecting the issue of transferring the residents of Gaza,” before the emergency Arab summit is held on March 4.

Ahmed stresses the importance of supporting the reconstruction process in Gaza, as a way to confront calls for displacement. He said: “The success of the reconstruction plans depends on a sustainable ceasefire in the Strip, which is what international efforts must be mobilized to achieve.”