2024-01-29 01:25:00
Congress in Jerusalem Thousands of Israelis call for the repopulation of Gaza
Jan 29, 2024, 2:25 a.m. Listen to article
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While the international community pushes for a two-state solution, right-wing Israelis are pursuing a very different agenda. For security reasons, the settlers must return to the Gaza Strip and Palestinians should leave the area voluntarily, they demand at a congress in Jerusalem.
In Israel, thousands of people gathered at a convention center in Jerusalem to demand the return of Jewish settlers to the Gaza Strip. Among the participants were several members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party as well as some ultra-right ministers. It is time to promote the voluntary emigration of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, said Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. “If we don’t want another October 7th, we have to control the area,” he emphasized, referring to the major attack on Israel by the radical Islamic Hamas, which rules in the Gaza Strip, almost four months ago.
Several participants in the rally carried weapons, while T-shirts reading “Gaza is part of Israel” were sold outside the convention center. In the hall, speakers emphasized that the return of Jewish settlers to the Gaza Strip is the only way to ensure security for the people of Israel. Israel had occupied the Gaza Strip as well as the West Bank and East Jerusalem since the 1967 war. Around 400,000 Israelis now live in the West Bank in settlements that the UN classifies as violating international law.
In 2005, Israel completely withdrew from the Gaza Strip. Hamas emerged victorious in elections held there a year later. It finally took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 after armed clashes with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s rival secular Fatah. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu described the return of Jewish settlers to the Gaza Strip as “not a realistic goal”. But he also rejects an independent Palestinian state.
Netanyahu: Negotiations on hostage deal constructive
According to Israel, there is still a need for talks after the Paris negotiations with the USA, Qatar and Egypt about a ceasefire in the Gaza war. The meeting of representatives of the four states on Sunday in Paris was “constructive,” Netanyahu’s office said in the evening. But there are still “significant differences”. The participants would therefore continue their discussions next week.
The discussions took place on Saturday and Sunday in different formats. Those involved included the head of the US CIA secret service, William Burns, the Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdultahman al-Thani and a high-ranking Egyptian representative. According to negotiating sources, they are working on an agreement that includes a ceasefire in the war between Israel and the Islamist Hamas and the release of the hostages it is holding in the Gaza Strip. According to a statement from Netanyahu’s office, the heads of the Israeli secret services Mossad and Shin Bet also took part in the talks in Paris. The Israeli government is under massive pressure from its own population to finally bring the hostages home.
According to Israeli information, Hamas, classified as a terrorist organization by the EU and the USA, killed around 1,140 people and kidnapped around 250 others as hostages in the Gaza Strip in its brutal major attack on Israel on October 7th. Since then, Israel has taken massive military action in the Gaza Strip, with the declared aim of destroying Hamas. According to the Palestinian Organization, which cannot be independently verified, more than 26,400 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip so far.
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