General Discussion

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/israel-gaza-palestinians-concept-paper-1.7015576

Leaked document fuels concern Israel plans to push Palestinians from Gaza into Egypt

Israel says ‘concept paper’ isn't policy, but Palestinians fear ethnic cleansing

CBC News · Posted: Nov 01, 2023 5:22 PM CDT | Last Updated: November 10, 2023

An Israeli government document suggesting the mass relocation of Gaza's 2.3 million people to Egypt's Sinai Peninsula is fuelling concerns about the possible ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

The leaked document, first reported in Israeli media, was compiled by an Israeli government research agency known as the Intelligence Ministry and was dated Oct. 13 — six days after Hamas led deadly attacks on Israel and the Israeli government declared war against the Palestinian militant group, which controls Gaza.

Although not a binding policy, it has deepened long-standing Egyptian fears that Israel wants to make Gaza into Egypt's problem and revived Palestinians' memories of the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people who fled or were forced from their homes during the fighting surrounding Israel's creation in 1948, which Palestinians refer to as the Nakba, the Arabic word for catastrophe.

"What happened in 1948 will not be allowed to happen again," Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, told The Associated Press in reaction to the paper.

He said a mass displacement of Palestinians would be "tantamount to declaring a new war."

WATCH | Israeli document weighs possible outcomes for population of Gaza: