How the Palestinians have been driven from Palestine. From Dan Steinbock at antiwar.com:
What Led to (and Caused) the Gaza-Israel Catastrophe
The Hamas-Israel War has devastated Gaza and displaced its people. It could result in expulsions in the West Bank over time. It is about the dispossession, displacement and devastation of a nation.
By the end of December, over 21,000 Palestinians, some 70 percent of whom are women and children, have been killed in the Hamas-Israel War (although these figures are likely to be gross underestimations) and 1.9 of the 2.3 million Palestinians displaced. If the Israeli offensive would last a year, which is the tacit goal of Israel’s far-right government, over 100,000 Palestinians would be dead by October 7, 2024. As talks continued on hostage deals and hundreds of thousands marched for peace in world capitals, the war has continued, despite a truce and loud calls for lasting ceasefire.
It is a dramatic narrative. But it is about the proximate causes of October 7, which has been in the cards for years. Yet, ultimately, it is about longstanding ethnic cleansing and the effort to control huge offshore oil and gas reserves.
Secret memorandum on the Gazan population transfer
Barely a week after the Hamas attack on October 7, Israel’s Intelligence Ministry prepared a secret memorandum. It is this Ministry that oversees the Mossad and the Shin Bet, under the prime minister. In the 10-page memo, three options regarding the Palestinian civilians were predicated on “the overthrow of Hamas” and the “evacuation of the population outside of the combat zone”:
- Option A: Population remains in Gaza under Palestinian Authority
- Option B: … but under local Arab authority.
- Option C: Population is evacuated from Gaza to Sinai.
Of these three options, the memo recommended C: the forcible transfer of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents to Egypt’s Sinai, as the preferred course of action. In the Ministry’s view, Egypt, Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Canada would support the plan financially, or by taking in Palestinian refugees as citizens.
