Artificial island to nuclear bomb: Israel’s controversial plans to take over Gaza
Rights groups, legal experts and UN officials have
repeatedly warned that Israel intends to ethnically cleanse Gaza
Emre Basaran |25.01.2024
- Rights
groups, legal experts and UN officials have repeatedly warned that Israel
intends to ethnically cleanse Gaza
- Threats
from Israeli officials to expel the enclave’s over 2 million population
range from nuclear strikes to relocating Gazans to an artificial island
ISTANBUL
Apart from the deadly bombardment that has now killed
nearly 26,000 people since Oct. 7, a constant theme of Israel’s ongoing Gaza
offensive has been the dehumanization of Palestinians and statements explicitly
conveying an intent to expel the entire population of the besieged Palestinian
territory.
These statements have been repeatedly denounced by
rights groups, legal experts and UN officials as plans for ethnic cleansing of
Gaza.
Other incendiary remarks about the total annihilation
of Gaza and its people are also a key part of South Africa’s genocide case
against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which is scheduled
to rule on the request for provisional measures on Friday.
The common denominator of all these controversial
plans is to decrease the number of Gazans living in the Strip – whether through
forcibly deporting them to the bordering Egypt’s Sinai peninsula or an
artificial island in the Mediterranean, through permanent occupation of Gaza
with illegal Jewish settlements, or straight-out calls for dropping a nuclear
bomb.
They have even been rejected by Israel’s staunchest
ally, the US.
“Washington has made it clear that civilians must not
be pressed to leave Gaza under any circumstances,” Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US
envoy to the UN, said in a recent statement.
“We unequivocally reject statements by some Israeli
ministers and lawmakers calling for a resettlement of Palestinians outside of
Gaza. These statements, along with statements by Israeli officials calling for
the mistreatment of Palestinian detainees or the destruction of Gaza, are
irresponsible, inflammatory, and only make it harder to secure a lasting
peace,” she added.
Dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza
Without a doubt, the most damning of all Israeli
threats was revealed on Wednesday, when Israel’s far-right Heritage Minister
Amichai Eliyahu renewed his call for destroying the Gaza Strip with a “nuclear
bomb.”
“Even in The Hague they know my position,” he said in
an interview, in reference to the ICJ.
Eliyahu had earlier said in November that dropping a
nuclear bomb on the Gaza Strip is “an option.”
The hardline minister, who uses extremist rhetoric
against Palestinians, also called for encouraging Gaza’s population to migrate
from the enclave.
The South African legal team at the ICJ has also
included Eliyahu's statements in its filing to the top UN court.
David Campbell, an associate professor at the
University of Vienna, criticized Eliyahu’s remarks as “completely
unjustifiable.”
“Those plans are totally unacceptable,” he told
Anadolu, also referring to Israel’s plans to relocate Gazans from their
territory.
Campbell also emphasized that the minister belongs to
a far-right ideology and has drawn ire from the Western world.
“The reaction to his remarks from the Western world
was utmost critical and negative,” he said.
Relocation to ‘artificial island’
Another recent plan was made public by Israeli Foreign
Minister Israel Katz, who displayed a video titled “The Gaza Artificial Island
Initiative” at an EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting on Monday.
“Construction of an artificial island with a port and
civilian infrastructure installations off the coast of Gaza will provide the
Palestinians a humanitarian, economic and transportation gateway to the world,
without endangering Israel’s security,” the video’s narrator said.
The presentation has drawn vehement criticism from
Palestinians and others around the world.
Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for
foreign affairs and security policy, told reporters that Katz “could have made
better use of his time to worry about the security of his country and the high
number of deaths in the Middle East and the high death toll in Gaza.”
Displacement to Sinai
An Israeli Intelligence Ministry proposal revealed in
late October included three options for post-war Gaza, including relocating its
residents to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
The document said the expulsion would yield strategic
benefits but needs support from the US and other allies of Israel, according to
Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
It also mentioned the possibility of initially
relocating the population to temporary tent cities before establishing
permanent communities in northern Sinai.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi have strongly opposed the idea, while the US has
also publicly and privately expressed opposition to the idea, with Secretary of
State Antony Blinken calling it a “non-starter.”
US President Joe Biden and al-Sisi also emphasized in
a discussion that Palestinians in Gaza should not be displaced to Egypt or any
other nation.
With regards to the Sinai plan, Campbell said it was a
“no-go,” both for the EU and the US, adding that “there can be no justification
for this.”
Occupation through settlements
Israeli ministers have also voiced support for
reestablishing Jewish settlements in Gaza.
Israel has already set up many settlements in the
occupied West Bank, which are not recognized by international law and are
therefore illegal.
Israel has not had any settlements in the Gaza Strip
since 2005, but Foreign Minister Katz floated the idea in recent remarks.
He said it would be a “resolute message to our
murderous enemies,” claiming that most of the Israeli public agrees that “only
settlement brings security.”
The US factor
Campbell, the University of Vienna academic, said the
Israeli government led by Prime Minister Netanyahu might be pushed to act
quickly on such controversial ideas because of the upcoming US elections.
There is a possibility that “Netanyahu is speculating
the departure of Biden,” he said, mentioning the unusual US backlash to some of
Israel’s moves despite the fact that it has wholly supported the brutal
offensive on Gaza.
“Perhaps, former US President Donald Trump will come
to power again,” he said, emphasizing that the possibility of Biden being on
the way out might be a catalyst to Israel’s current actions.
“But you know, Trump can be unpredictable,” he added,
saying that the businessman-turned-president might want to cozy up to “wealthy
Arab states in the Gulf” when he comes to power again.
“So, Netanyahu might be thinking, ‘If I don’t get
along with Biden, he won’t stay that long in the office, anyway.’ But Trump
might not be so interested in engaging with the conflict in the Middle East and
not be so in favor of sending his troops there,” Campbell concluded.
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