I'm surprised how little attention this has drawn:
For months, Israeli officials have spoken in increasingly strident tones about wanting Palestinians to leave Gaza en masse. Now, a potential destination being discussed is the impoverished, war-torn African nation of South Sudan, part of the broader Israeli push for wholesale emigration from the devastated enclave.I mean, I'm as pessimistic as the next distant observer about the long term prospects for Gaza because it seems virtually ungovernable without radicalisation (and as such, hardly worth the billions and billions of dollars to rebuild). But this mooted destination seems pretty crazy.
Unable so far to find countries willing to accept large numbers of Gazan refugees from the nearly two-year Israeli campaign against Hamas, Israel has held talks with South Sudan on taking them, according to officials and people briefed on the discussions.
Critics argue that forcibly and permanently removing Gazans from the enclave would amount to ethnic cleansing and a war crime. Noting some Israeli leaders’ hope to conquer Gaza and build Jewish settlements there, they have questioned whether Israel’s long-term vision is merely resettlement or expulsion.
Israeli officials have labeled their policy “voluntary migration,” framing it as a humanitarian move to allow Palestinians who wish to depart to freely do so. Last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was not “pushing out” Gazans, but did not say whether they would be allowed to return after the war with Hamas.
I did mention Indonesian islands for Palestinians in comments recently - but the problem is, where ever they move to, if the land is taken over by Right wing Israelis, it reeks too much of exactly the same type of territorial conquest we don't want Russia doing.
Again (and I'm just engaging in a bit of Bond movie level fantasy here), the ideal solution might be for Gaza to be irradiated by a mad billionaire with a nuclear bomb so no one can inhabit it. (And the Gazans get a nice fertile piece of land somewhere under Muslim rule to start again.)
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