Press Releases

As the Arab League and member states prepare for the upcoming Arab Summit to respond to US-Israeli threats to ethnically cleanse the Gaza Strip, BADIL Resource Center and the Global Palestinian Refugee and IDP Network (GPRN) call on Arab states to ensure that their responses and actions are strategic and consistent with international law and the Palestinian people’s inalienable rights to return and self-determination.

One of the main aims of Trump and Netanyahu is to force Arab states to search for alternative plans to their displacement plans that concede to their colonial standards of what is “acceptable”. This includes halting all appearances of victory during prisoner exchanges; disarming the resistance and ensuring it does not rule Gaza; and establishing joint, permanent monitoring mechanisms to ensure “Israel's security”. A second aim of the ethnic cleansing threats and plans is to instigate further internal Arab conflict through attempts to demonize and fragment the resistance movement. The third aim is to impose Palestinian and Arab surrender to the Israeli regime and its colonial ally, the US, as the only available and feasible option. These US-Israeli “acceptable” alternatives would necessarily secure strategic victories for the Israeli regime that it could not achieve with the genocide and frame Palestinian and Arab surrender as the path to safety and prosperity.

Therefore, any alternative plans deliberated and proposed by Arab states must be adamantly clear in rejecting all attempts, plans and measures that would forcibly displace Palestinians, deny their inalienable right to self-determination and reject exchanging resistance for surrender to the Israeli colonial-apartheid regime and its ally, the US.

BADIL and the Global Palestinian Refugee and IDP Network (GPRN) call on the Arab League and its Member States to adopt the following principles as the foundation for any plan, response and action to US-Israeli threats and plans:

1. Rejection of any form of temporary or permanent displacement/relocation/transfer. The only “relocation” of Palestinian refugees from the Gaza Strip must be return to their places of origin and habitual residence from which they were forcibly displaced by Zionist militias and Israeli forces during the 1948 Nakba. In other words, all Palestinian refugees and internally displaced persons’ “relocation” requires the exercise of their inalienable right of return to their original homes, not to any other place. 
2. The administration of Gaza is an integral part of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and a Palestinian internal issue. The political leadership of Gaza is a decision that belongs to the Palestinian people, separate from the reconstruction of Gaza and confronting US-Israeli threats and plans. 
3. Reconstruction of Gaza must commence immediately and must not be politically conditioned. Alternative plans that seek to demonize, criminalize or force the surrender of the resistance must be firmly rejected. Proposals suggesting a joint US-Israeli controlled mechanism or a Gulf-led reconstruction fund in exchange for sidelining the resistance are also unacceptable.
4. International efforts and contributions to the reconstruction of Gaza do not exempt the Israeli regime from its responsibilities. As the colonial power and primary force responsible for the mass destruction of Gaza, the Israeli regime is not only legally obligated to ensure the restoration of civilian infrastructure and well-being, but also to provide reparations to the victims, Palestinian and international. Given the Israeli regime’s longstanding refusal to uphold any of its obligations under international law, the international community, including Arab states, must step in to hold it accountable for its current and past crimes through practical measures that include diplomatic, economic and military sanctions. The Hague Group Initiative constitutes a significant step forward to hold the Israeli regime accountable that the Arab League could join, or create a similar and stronger initiative.
5. Ensure the presence, operations and mandate of UNRWA as the UN agency with the greatest operational capacity and the mandate to provide humanitarian aid, assistance and services to Palestinian refugees. Further, any attempts to transfer UNRWA’s responsibilities (whether in the Gaza Strip or in any of its five areas of operations) to other international and local organizations, or to ban its operations must be rejected and halted immediately. The international community’s financial, political and technical support to UNRWA must be increased so that it can continue to fulfill its responsibility to provide international protection, until the implementation of UN Resolution 194, in accordance with the Agency’s mandate.

By applying the above principles, the Arab League and its member states will be able to oppose Israeli colonial domination and US hegemony by taking concrete and strategic steps to thwart their ethnic cleansing plans through their refusal to provide “acceptable” alternatives that support their colonial aims.