Aletho News

Jordan, Egypt renew rejection of Israel’s forced displacement plans

The Cradle | December 27, 2023

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi held a meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah II in Cairo on 27 December, where they once again rejected Israel’s plans for forced displacement of Palestinians in both Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

In a joint statement, the two leaders announced their “complete rejection of all attempts to liquidate the Palestinian issue and forcibly displace Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.”

The statement also urged the international community to push for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and called for “uninterrupted delivery of sufficient humanitarian aid to Gaza” to alleviate the “tragic situation and the suffering of the people in the Strip.”

“The two leaders note the international community’s immense political and ethical responsibility towards implementing UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions to maintain the integrity of these international entities,” the statement read.

Since the start of the war, aid has trickled into Gaza at a pace nowhere near fast enough to address the dire humanitarian situation. The US has also vetoed two UN resolutions urging for an immediate truce.

A resolution was passed on 22 December, after having been held up for days and watered down significantly at Washington’s insistence. The resolution made no mention of a ceasefire.

King Abdullah’s visit to Egypt comes days after Cairo proposed a ceasefire plan to reform Gaza’s government on a technocratic basis and gradually release Israeli prisoners in exchange for detained Palestinians and a withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.

However, Hamas has rejected the proposal, which also failed to gain traction on the Israeli side.

Tel Aviv continues to push for a mass displacement of Palestinians from Gaza. Israel recently ordered more Palestinians to evacuate from Khan Yunis to areas further south, as tens of thousands of displaced are already stranded in the southern border city of Rafah.

The Cradle’s William Van Wagenen details in his recent analysis Israel’s longstanding goals to forcibly displace Gaza’s population into the Sinai Peninsula, occupy the Gaza Strip, and re-establish the Jewish settlement bloc that was evacuated in 2005.

In the occupied West Bank, violent Israeli settlers with Israeli government backing also continue to drive Palestinians from their homes in attempts to expel them to Jordan, a practice which has been ongoing for years.

A decades-old Israeli initiative known as the ‘Transfer Plan’ – originally formulated by the Zionist militias operating in Palestine, and then endorsed by the government of Israel post-1948 – calls for mass expulsion of Palestinians to the Sinai desert.

After Israel’s occupation of the West Bank in 1967, the idea of pushing Palestinians towards Jordan became included in the ‘Transfer Plan.’

Israel forced many Palestinians to migrate to Jordan over the years, particularly after 1967 and with the rapid expansion of illegal settlements across the occupied West Bank.

The ‘Transfer Plan’ was never officially implemented, and is a violation of UN Resolution 194, which was issued in 1948 and which legitimizes the right of return for Palestinian refugees expelled from their homes.

A joint Egyptian-Jordanian statement issued in late October this year rejected the transfer plan.

December 28, 2023 - Posted by aletho | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | Egypt, Human rights, Israel, Jordan, Palestine