2024-01-03 02:02:00
Matthew Miller criticized Israeli officials calling for the emigration of Palestinians. Photo: Archive
The United States government expressed its rejection on Tuesday of the “inflammatory and irresponsible rhetoric” of Israeli ministers who urged Jewish settlers to return to Gaza once the war against Hamas ends, and for Palestinians from the enclave to emigrate. At the same time, they demanded that officials stop this type of expression “immediately.”
“The United States rejects recent statements by Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir proposing the resettlement of Palestinians out of Gaza,” said a statement from the State Department spokesperson, Matthew Miller.
“This rhetoric is inflammatory and irresponsible”Miller warned.
He further stressed that Washington officials were “clear, consistent and unequivocal that “Gaza is Palestinian land and will continue to be Palestinian land, without Hamas no longer having control over its future and without terrorist groups capable of threatening Israel.”
“That is the future we seek, in the interests of Israelis and Palestinians, the surrounding region and the world,” he expressed, according to the AFP and Europa Press news agencies.
On Monday, the Israeli Security Minister, Ben Gvir called for promoting “a solution to incite the emigration of Gazans.”
In 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew its last troops and settlers from Gaza, ending a presence that began in 1967, although it still maintained control over the territory’s borders.
Ben Gvir is one of the ministers who called for resettlement of Palestinians. Photo: AFP
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has not officially said it plans to evict Gazans or send Jewish settlers back to the territory. since the confrontation broke out on October 7, after a Hamas incursion into Israeli territory.
But Ben Gvir argued that the departure of the Palestinians and the reestablishment of Israeli settlements constitutes “a correct, just, moral and humane solution.”
“It is an opportunity to develop a project that encourages Gaza residents to emigrate to countries around the world,” he noted at a meeting of his ultranationalist party.
Also Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich had called a day earlier for the return of settlers to Gaza, and estimated that Israel should “encourage” the approximately 2.4 million Palestinians to leave the territory.
The war broke out after an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on the first Saturday of October, which left around 1,200 dead and 240 hostages, including several Argentines.
In response, Israel vowed to “annihilate” Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, and launched an offensive that, According to the Islamist organization’s Ministry of Health, it has already caused 22,185 deaths.
“The Government of Israel, including the Prime Minister (Benjamin Netanyahu), has repeatedly and consistently told us that such statements do not reflect the policy of the Israeli Government. They should stop immediately,” Miller said in the State Department text.
But Gvir not only did not accept the request, but he even retorted on his X network account (formerly Twitter): Israel “is not just another star on the American flag,” he said.
“The United States is our best friend, but first of all we will do what is best for the State of Israel: the migration of hundreds of thousands of people from Gaza will allow the residents of the enclave to return home and live safely,” he insisted.
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