by Ariel Kahana
Israel has finalized arrangements to enable thousands of Gazans to leave daily through three routes.
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Photos of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi
and Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas affixed at the Rafah
border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, Nov. 1, 2017. Photo by
Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90. |
Israel has completed the necessary preparations to enable the migration of Gaza residents, provided countries are found willing to accept them.
In recent weeks, a mechanism has been established, under the direction of Defense Minister Israel Katz, designed to create conditions that would allow 2,500 Gazans to leave the Strip daily. Currently, more than two million Palestinians live in the Gaza Strip.
Security sources told Israel Hayom that one country has already expressed interest in accepting construction workers from Gaza, but international controversy surrounding the issue has caused it to freeze its involvement in the matter for the time being.
Migration to destination countries could be carried out via sea, with passage through Israel at Ashdod Port.
An additional route, by air, would be through Ramon Airport, near Eilat. It should be noted that this route has been operating for several months for wounded individuals who have left the Strip, and approximately 1,500 Gaza residents are known to have left via this route to other countries.
Another departure route is the Rafah Crossing. Through this crossing, according to information available to Israel, about 35,000 people have evacuated from the Strip to Egypt since the beginning of the current war. In many cases, they continued from Egypt to other destinations around the world.
Israel is interested in allowing as many Gaza residents as possible to leave the Strip. Therefore, the policy is to allow family members of sick and wounded individuals to leave with them to other countries. In the vast majority of cases, those who left Gaza were absorbed into Arab countries, but there are also those who have migrated to Romania and Italy with the intention of not returning.
“Our interest is to let as many people as possible leave. That’s the rationale of the Trump plan that Israel has expressed support for. We are trying to implement it,” said a security source.
Meanwhile, The Israeli Reservists—Generation of Victory movement has published its own framework for the voluntary migration of Gaza residents, based on principles of international law. The plan proposes the removal of 1.7 million Gazans via air, sea and land routes to host countries around the world, including Egypt, Libya and Gulf states.
The initiative includes full funding for departure from Gaza, temporary housing solutions, and a financial grant for migrants, at an estimated cost of up to $100 billion—less than the cost of rehabilitating the Strip.
According to Maj. (res.) Gilad Ach, chairman of the movement: “We are presenting an orderly plan to remove the ongoing threat to Israeli citizens from the Gaza Strip. … A one-time opportunity has now been created to exploit the window of opportunity opened by the current U.S. administration.”
Originally published by Israel Hayom.
Ariel Kahana
Source: https://www.jns.org/preparations-completed-for-gazan-migration/
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