The comments by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich have played into the concerns of most Arab countries that Israel wants to evict Palestinians from Gaza, one of the enclaves the Palestinians want for a future state. Such a move could plunge the Palestinians into a repeat of the 1948 “Nakba” (catastrophe), when Palestinians were forced to flee their homes en masse after that year’s Arab-Israeli war.
"What needs to be done in the Gaza Strip is to encourage migration... If the Gaza Strip had 100,000 or 200,000 Arabs and not 2 million Arabs, then all discussions about the future would be completely different," Reuters quoted Mr. Smotrich as saying on Army Radio on December 31, 2023.
He said that if its 2.3 million residents no longer "grew up there with the desire to destroy the State of Israel", the Gaza Strip would be viewed differently in Israel.
“Most of Israeli society would say why not, it's a nice place, let's make the desert bloom, it doesn't hurt anyone,” the official commented.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich
Mr. Smotrich is a member of a far-right party with an ultra-nationalist and Jewish supremacist ideology that attracts support from the Israeli settler community. He has made similar statements in the past, which have made him unpopular with the United States, Israel’s most important ally.
But his views do not reflect the official position of the Israeli government, which has said Gaza residents will be able to return to their homes after the war ends. Israel's war against Hamas, which has held de facto control of Gaza since 2007, is now entering its fourth month and shows no signs of abating.
Smotrich’s party, which helped Netanyahu secure the majority needed to become prime minister for a sixth term nearly a year ago, has seen its popularity plummet since the Gaza war erupted on Oct. 7, 2023, following a surprise Hamas offensive in southern Israel.
Polls also show that most Israelis do not support the reestablishment of Israeli settlements in Gaza, which were relocated after the Israeli military withdrew from Gaza in 2005.
Palestinians and Arab leaders have accused Israel of wanting to create a new "Nakba," the Arabic name for the tragic events that occurred primarily in 1948, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced to flee or were driven from their homes by military conflict surrounding the creation of the State of Israel.
Most Palestinians that year fled to neighboring Arab states, and Arab leaders have said any move to expel Palestinians again would be unacceptable.
In a speech yesterday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas opposed any action aimed at forcing Palestinians from their homes. "We will not allow displacement, whether in the Gaza Strip or in the West Bank," he said.
Israel withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005 after 38 years of occupation, and Prime Minister Netanyahu has said it has no intention of maintaining a permanent presence again, but that Israel will control Gaza's security for an unspecified period.
However, Israel's plans for Gaza's future remain vague and countries, including the United States, have said Gaza should be governed by Palestinians.
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