Former Israeli PM says ‘humanitarian city’ in Rafah would be a concentration camp
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says the “humanitarian city” that the Israeli government wants to build on the ruins of Rafah would be a concentration camp.
“It is a concentration camp. I am sorry,” he told the Guardian newspaper.
“If they [Palestinians] will be deported into the new ‘humanitarian city’, then you can say that this is part of an ethnic cleansing. It hasn’t yet happened,” Olmert said.
“When they build a camp where they [plan to] ‘clean’ more than half of Gaza, then the inevitable understanding of the strategy of this [is that] it is not to save [Palestinians]. It is to deport them, to push them and to throw them away. There is no other understanding that I have at least,” he added.
Senior Israeli politicians aware of psychological impact of ‘concentration camp’ comments
It is significant that two prominent Israeli politicians have used the term “concentration camp” to describe Israel’s plans for Gaza, given the psychological impact of such statements.
There is serious opposition for this plan because many like Yair Lapid and Ehud Olmert believe that it would cause irreparable damage for Israel by ethnically cleansing Palestinians and trying to expel them from Gaza.
This is something Israel cannot walk back on. This is in addition to other considerations, including the fact that the Israeli opposition is fed up with Netanyahu.
There is also bringing up the issue of how much this would cost. In fact, Netanyahu himself has been reported to have been outraged by the proposal presented by the army about how to build this concentration camp.
I don't think Israel can walk back from genocide and total destruction of Gaza it already has committed, but finally some Israeli leaders have found a red line they don't want to cross.
Israeli army estimates ‘humanitarian city’ will take ‘more than a year’ to build
According to the Israeli news outlet Ynet, the Israeli army estimates that a “humanitarian city” in southern Gaza would take “more than a year” to establish.
Ynet reported that representatives from the army met in a mini-cabinet meeting on Sunday night and laid out the possible timeframe and estimated that it would cost $10bn to $15bn to create.
The news outlet, quoting officials who attended the meeting, said Netanyahu was “furious” with the assessment and asked the army to give him an improved plan that was “shorter, cheaper and more practical”.
Last week, Israel’s defence minister announced plans to build the so-called humanitarian city on the ruins of Rafah. Once inside the encampment, Palestinians would not be allowed to leave except to go to other countries. Humanitarian agencies, lawyers and international leaders have condemned the plan. Some are calling it akin to a “concentration camp”.
