Israel/Palestine

‘It is doable’: 10 Likud MKs to attend conference calling for ‘resettling Gaza’

Almost a third of lawmakers in Netanyahu’s party to participate in event organized by Nachala Settlement Movement, after a similar confab months ago drew widespread backlash

By Jeremy Sharon Follow
and ToI Staff
16 October 2024

Ten of the 32 lawmakers from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, including a cabinet minister, announced on Wednesday that they will be participating in a conference tagged “Preparing to Resettle Gaza” scheduled for next week in the Gaza border region close to Sderot.

“A year after the pogroms (of October 7), we will stand together — Likud members, regional [Likud] branch chairs, MKs and ministers — to jointly declare that ‘Gaza is ours. Forever,'” a poster advertising the October 21 event read.

“Victory is settlement. It is doable” added a message on a Gaza settlement WhatsApp channel where it announced the participation of nearly one-third of the Likud faction Knesset members.

The Likud legislators set to participate are Social Equality Minister MK May Golan and MKs Avichay Buaron, Sasson Guetta, Tally Gotliv, Eli Dallal, Nissim Vaturi, Hanoch Milwidsky, Ariel Kallner, Kati Shitrit and Osher Shkalim.

The event — in which relatives of some of the Gaza hostages will participate along with bereaved families and families of active duty soldiers — is being organized by the Nachala Settlement Movement organization, which advocates for Jewish settlement in the West Bank where it has helped establish illegal settlement outposts.

Nachala organized another conference in January, which also advocated for the reestablishment of Israeli settlements in Gaza in addition to “encouraging voluntary emigration” of Palestinians out of the Strip. The gathering was attended by over two dozen ministers and lawmakers.

Other organizers of the event next week include the far-right Otzma Yehudit party headed by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and the youth chapter of the far-right Religious Zionism party led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

Smotrich and Ben Gvir are expected to attend the conference, along with Otzma Yehudit Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected the idea of Israeli civilians resettling Gaza. But critics fear the premier’s prosecution of the war could lead in that direction, pointing to the latest military operations in northern Gaza, which have included mass evacuation orders and little to no humanitarian aid allowed in for nearly two weeks. Israel says it is trying to prevent the revival of Hamas in the area and that there are no ulterior motives for the north Gaza operation.

The US has spoken out against the resettlement of Gaza, and included that stance in one of its principles for the post-war management of Gaza. The Biden administration also called the messaging of the previous Nachala-led conference “inflammatory and irresponsible.”

More @ : https://www.timesofisrael.com/it-is-doable-10-likud-mks-to-attend-conference-calling-for-resettling-gaza/