Extremist Israeli politicians and right-wing settlers have convened a conference in the Israeli parliament, where they said the US had given them the “green light” to convert the besieged Gaza Strip into a “resort town” after they had carried out the ethnic cleansing of over two million Palestinians.
“We will occupy Gaza and make it an inseparable part of Israel,” far-right Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich told a few dozen attendees at the event titled “The Gaza Riviera - From Vision to Reality” on Tuesday.
Smotrich said that “a proposed plan to relocate Gazans to other countries will serve as a means of facilitating the settlement of the strip.”
He additionally stated that he endorsed the concept of a “security annexation” of northern Gaza, claiming that the chief of staff of the Israeli military, Eyal Zamir, was in favor of this notion.
“I truly believe there is a tremendous opportunity here,” he said, suggesting that Israel begin “with the northern border and establish three communities there. We are already talking about it. Some call it a ‘security annexation.’”
The US did not provide an immediate comment on Smotrich’s remarks.
The concept of transforming Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East” was initially proposed by US President Donald Trump earlier this year.
The proposal has faced criticism from both regional and international leaders, including those from Spain, France, and China.
Nonetheless, the proposal continues to receive support from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, minister of military affairs Israel Katz, and other notable figures from the Knesset (parliament).
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During Tuesday’s event, right-wing Israeli politician Limor Son Har-Melech expressed admiration for illegal Israeli settlers, referring to them as the heirs of the Zionist leaders who founded Israel in 1948.
“We need to rebuild the Gaza Strip with Jewish cities,” Har-Melech said, adding that there needed to be “big and fortified cities all over Gaza.”
“There is a thirst for return among the public. Not as a punishment, but because Jews belong to the Gaza Strip,” she added.
In September 2005, Israel withdrew its military personnel and relocated 8,000 settlers from 21 settlements in Gaza as a component of a “disengagement plan” to adjacent areas of Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Since the onset of the Gaza genocidal war on October 7, 2023, far-right groups and lawmakers have repeatedly talked up plans to re-establish the illegal settlements in Gaza.
Israeli politician Zvi Sukkot reiterated Har-Melech’s comments, stating that Israel is experiencing a distinctive moment and possesses “the power” to realize Trump’s “vision.”
A number of the conference speakers presented what they described as a definitive future for Gaza – a territory devoid of Palestinians and exclusively for Jews.
The head of the settler Nachala movement, Daniella Weiss, said, “The Arab Gaza chapter is over.”
“In Gaza, there will never be an Arab, international or American government,” she said.
Weiss, who declined last week to denounce the killing and starvation of Palestinian children, said that after Israel defeats the Hamas resistance movement, the Tel Aviv regime will allow the emigration of Palestinians.”
“Gaza is difficult to conquer because of its sanctity, but the day of the occupation of Gaza is coming.”
Weiss’s fellow Nachala member, Lital Slonim, presented the movement’s detailed plan for Jewish settlement.
“We are here to present a clear vision of how Gaza will become a flourishing place,” Slonim said, adding, “This is one of the most beautiful areas in Israel.”
The Nachala movement has been constructing unauthorized settlements on territory in the occupied West Bank for many years. Earlier this year, the International Court of Justice determined that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories since 1967 is illegal and must conclude at the earliest opportunity.
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As per the Nachala plan, approximately 300,000 housing units are set to be constructed in the region, with the overwhelming majority located in two primary residential zones in the northern and southern sections of the strip.
According to the plan, approximately 1.2 million Jews are anticipated to inhabit the Gaza Strip, where they will have access to green spaces, transportation facilities, industrial zones, hotels, a university, and potentially a port.
“The removal of the civilian population, by choice and/or within the framework of an arrangement, is a necessary stage for the evacuation of the battlefield and its transformation into a space of Jewish life, agriculture, industry, tourism and settlement,” the plan says.
At least 59,106 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and another 142,511 individuals injured in the brutal Israeli onslaught on Gaza since October 7, 2023.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Netanyahu and former minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant, citing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the besieged coastal territory.
Source:Press tv