Press Releases
On 22 March, the Israeli regime approved Defense Minister Katz’s proposed "Voluntary Emigration Bureau for Gaza." This abhorrent ‘Bureau of Forced Displacement’ is a formal escalation of the regime’s ethnic cleansing of Gaza while continuing its blockade of supplies and aid for the past three weeks in its starvation of the Palestinian population of Gaza. In parallel, the Israeli regime also steps up its colonization in the West Bank with the separation of 13 colonial neighborhoods to ease their expansion. Underscoring all of these atrocities is the US government’s fervent support, Western mainstream media’s complicity, and the erosion of the UN’s presence in the region. BADIL and the Global Palestinian Refugee and IDPs Network (GPRN) confirms these crimes as acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing that would not continue were states to act in accordance to their obligations under international law.
Israeli regime’s Creation of ‘Bureau of Forced Displacement’
The Israeli regime’s new Bureau is a formalization of a long-evident strategy to forcibly displace Palestinians from Gaza and to ethnically cleanse the land in line with the Israeli and US broader colonial and genocidal strategy. According to Israeli War Minister Katz, the Bureau will be charged with "setting up a road and security checks for pedestrians in designated crossings in Gaza as well as coordinating the establishment of infrastructure that allows passage by land, sea and air to target countries." Finance Minister Smotrich has stated that he hopes to be able to forcibly displace 10,000 Palestinians per day, in order to ethnically cleanse Gaza completely within six months.
A core part of the Bureau’s plan is the establishment of so-called ‘Humanitarian’ Corridors via which Palestinians can be forcibly displaced into third states. Egypt has strongly denied false reporting about its willingness to absorb 500,000 Palestinian refugees from Gaza. Cairo's State Information Service said in a statement that "these false allegations are fundamentally and completely inconsistent with Egypt's firm and principled position of absolute rejection of any attempt to forcibly or voluntarily displace our Palestinian brothers." Other countries (Sudan, Somalia and Somaliland) have reportedly been contacted to discuss relocation of displaced Palestinians but all have rejected such offers.
This news comes as we enter the fourth week of a blanket blockade of all supplies to the people of Gaza. The Guardian reported over the weekend that six out of 23 bakeries operated by the UN World Food Programme have already been shut due to a lack of cooking gas. UNRWA declared on 21 March it only had 60,000 bags of flour, enough for just six days of distribution. The human cost of this blockade cannot be overstated, children are starving to death as a result of the Israeli regime’s actions and the Western colonial states who support its genocide.
However, this pattern of forced displacement and colonization is not limited to Gaza. The regime is also continuing its colonization of the West Bank, with the granting of ‘independence’ to 13 colonies. This ‘independence’ entitles them to individual budgets and their own municipal councils, not only further entrenching the Israeli regime’s colonization of the West Bank, but also providing the backing for it to expand.
International Reactions
This recent project, like the regime’s wider colonial and genocidal strategy, is built on the staunch support of the US government. Katz has stated that their goal is to “implement the U.S. president’s vision”, in which the 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza are forcibly displaced and the land is turned into a real estate development. While Israeli colonization continues unabated, the U.S. Special Envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff reaffirms his government’s complicity in the Israeli genocide, stating “The United States stands with the State of Israel. That’s a 100% commitment.” These statements and numerous others like it make it clear that not only is the US complicit in the Israeli regime’s genocidal actions, but in fact it is the progenitor, funder, and partner.
Despite statements from UNRWA condemning the regime’s blockade, reiterating calls for “the siege… [to] be lifted” and for “humanitarian aid & commercial supplies [to] be brought in uninterrupted and at scale”, states have still failed to act. Due to the lack of practical measures in the form of sanctions from states in stopping the genocide, the UN General Secretary elected to “reduce the [UN]’s footprint in Gaza, even as humanitarian needs soar and … concern over the protection of civilians intensifies”, withdrawing 100 international staff members.
Solidifying their complicity by normalizing Israeli crimes, Western mainstream media has continued to promote the Israeli regime’s lies, portraying the ethnic cleansing of Gaza as a story of ‘voluntary departures.’
States’ Complicity
States’ inaction to stop the continued willful killing, starvation and forced displacement of the Palestinian people implicates them in the Israeli regime’s genocide. The recent creation of the ‘Bureau for Forced Displacement’ is one of the most recent, clear and unequivocal indicators of the regime’s intent to ethnically cleanse Gaza, with the support of the US government and its other colonial allies. States must invoke the full range of economic, military and political sanctions against the Israeli regime and its colonial enablers, otherwise their inaction also constitutes complicity in its genocide and other crimes.