In a statement to The Associated Press in response to the Israeli report, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said, “We are against transfer to any place, in any form, and we consider it a red line that we will not allow to be crossed.”
“What happened in 1948 will not be allowed to happen again,” Abu Rudeineh said, adding that a mass displacement would be “tantamount to declaring a new war.”
While el-Sissi has not commented directly on the leaked document, he has repeatedly and staunchly opposed becoming a party to efforts by Israel to displace Palestinians.
“We are not going to permit that to happen,” he said last week, adding that the prospect of displacement endangered the “Palestinian cause.”
Middle Eastern experts are not surprised by the document but they are concerned.
Gamal Abdel Gawad, a political analyst and professor at the American University of Cairo, said the Israeli intelligence proposal is “completely reckless” and deflects from the crux of the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which he believes would only be resolved if Palestinians gain their own state.
The plan is also seen by many observers as an attempt by Israel to push off its responsibility under international law for the protection of Palestinians onto Egypt, a country in the midst of an economic crisis and ill-equipped to absorb 2.3 million refugees. Israel, with the support of its allies, may hope to leverage Egypt’s near-insurmountable debt as a way to convince it of such a plan, analysts have said.
El-Sissi’s public rejection of such a policy is bolstered by massive public support, including pro-Palestinian protests in Cairo last week. A strongman seeking a third term amid dwindling popularity, he has seen his approval ratings rise on the back of his vocal support for Palestinians.
His government has played an outsize role already in deals involving hostages, humanitarian aid and civilian evacuations.
Egypt’s position is not only motivated by a belief in the Palestinians’ right to self-determination or by self-interest, but the country also has a complex history with Israel, including past wars over Sinai, a 1978 peace treaty it seeks to preserve and delicate political cooperation.
National security concerns may also play into the administration’s tough stance. In the past, Egypt has struggled with extremist groups’ presence in the Sinai and lacked control over terrorist activity there, experts said.
“The idea of destabilizing Sinai, once again, through this mass depopulation is not just an economic or moral burden for Egypt, but also a major security issue,” Munayyer, of the Arab Center, said.
The plan to resettle Palestinians in Gaza to Sinai has surfaced regularly for decades, often meeting with outrage among Palestinians and Arab governments, but it is “not uncommon” in Israeli political discourse as an option during wartime, Munayyer said.
The United Nations estimates that 1.4 million Palestinians are currently displaced within the Gaza Strip in increasingly desperate conditions, as food, water, fuel and medicines run down under the total siege imposed by Israel and the destruction and death toll climb. It also remains unclear who might govern the coastal enclave after the war, if Israel is successful in eliminating Hamas.
Israel has repeatedly issued evacuation orders forcing people to southern Gaza, against the Egyptian border, while it appears to have focused its ground incursion on isolating the north of the enclave.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has attempted to downplay the document. In a statement to the AP, his office called it a “concept paper, the likes of which are prepared at all levels of the government and its security agencies.”
Munayyer said it would be tantamount to “complete political suicide” for the Egyptian government to accept such a “horrific possibility.” But while Israel has downplayed the document and the U.S., Egypt and others have dismissed the idea, he said he had no doubt that the Israeli government will likely push “very hard” to make it a reality with its actions in Gaza.
“Israel might make the Palestinians Egypt’s problem, whether Egypt likes it or not.”
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
