Israel's far-right finance minister says Israelis replacing Palestinians would “make the desert bloom.”
Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called on Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip to leave the besieged enclave and make way for Israelis who could “make the desert bloom.”
Smotrich, who was excluded from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's war cabinet and discussions about next day's agreements in Gaza, made the comments in an interview with Israeli Army Radio on Sunday.
“What needs to be done in Gaza is to encourage emigration,” he said.
“If there are 100,000 or 200,000 Arabs in Gaza and not two million Arabs, the whole discussion the day after will be completely different,” he said.
He added that Gaza would be viewed differently in Israel if it no longer had its 2.3 million residents “who grew up wanting to destroy the State of Israel.”
“Most of Israeli society will say, 'Why not?' “It’s a beautiful place, let’s make the desert bloom, it’s not at anyone’s expense.”
Sara Khairat, reporting from Tel Aviv for Al Jazeera, said Smotrich's comments “tie into the narrative that many are beginning to believe that Israel wants to reoccupy Gaza.”
“Pushing forward the idea that they want to expel the Palestinians,” Khairat said, would bring to mind scenes from the “Nakba” (catastrophe), the ethnic cleansing of Palestine after the 1948 war that marked the creation of the state of Israel.
Most Palestinians displaced after the Nakba ended up in neighboring Arab states, and Arab leaders have said any subsequent attempt to displace Palestinians would be unacceptable.
In a speech on Sunday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rejected any attempt to force Palestinians to leave their homes.
“We will not allow any displacement, neither from the Gaza Strip nor from the West Bank,” he said.
Smotrich's far-right agenda
Smotrich, whose far-right Religious Zionist Party enjoys the support of Israel's settler community, has made similar comments in the past, putting himself at odds with Israel's main ally, the United States.
However, his views contradict the government's official position that Palestinians in Gaza can return to their homes after the war.
Smotrich's party, which helped Netanyahu become prime minister for the sixth time almost exactly a year ago, has seen its approval ratings plummet since the conflict began.
Opinion polls also suggest that most Israelis do not support returning Israeli settlements to Gaza after they were displaced following the army's withdrawal in 2005.
Israel withdrew its military and settlers from Gaza in 2005 after a 38-year occupation, and Netanyahu said it did not intend to maintain a permanent presence again but would maintain security control indefinitely.
But there is little clarity about Israel's longer-term intentions, and countries including the US have said Gaza should be run by Palestinians.