Talks of relocating Palestinians ‘recipe for catastrophe’: Ex-Israeli diplomat
Former Israeli diplomat Alon Pinkas says just because there are ongoing reports and statements about relocating Palestinians in Gaza to other countries, it doesn’t mean that there is a “practical plan”.
“The fact that the Israeli defence minister blurts some ideas out, or even the prime minister, or even the president of the United States, doesn’t mean there is a plan,” he told Al Jazeera.
“In early February, Trump spoke about a Palestinian Riviera, and within 36 hours, he changed that from a Riviera for the Palestinians to the Palestinians will be expelled,” he added.
Pinkas explained that amid reports that the Boston Consulting Group, which has been asked to come up with a plan to relocate Palestinians, it “doesn’t mean it’s implementable, it doesn’t mean it’s practical”.
“[It] is a recipe for catastrophe because it ensures that no [post-war] agreement in Gaza is durable,” Pinkas said.
History shows Israeli settlements to follow ‘crazy plan’ to displace Palestinians from Gaza
Calls for displacement of Palestinians from Gaza will “soon be followed by [Israeli] settlements”, according to Sultan Barakat, a senior professor in public policy at Qatar Foundation’s Hamad Bin Khalifa University.
“History teaches us that every single achievement Israel has had over the last 78 years has started with floating a crazy plan, an unacceptable plan, an illegal plan, an inhuman plan and with time, they manage to implement it. That is, I think, the lesson we should reflect very carefully on,” Barakat told Al Jazeera.
“This is the reason why Netanyahu would not discuss anything outside Washington, DC. It’s not because he is very friendly with Trump necessarily, although Trump is very much supporting him. It’s because, in Washington, he is amongst the deep state of the United States, and he knows exactly that Trump cannot object to some of his ideas,” he added.
