If someone made your house uninhabitable, you would leave, but nobody would call that “voluntary.” From Michel Moushabeck at truthout.org:
A retired IDF leader said Israel’s goal is a humanitarian crisis to make Gaza “a place where no human being can exist.”
Instead of the sounds of fireworks to ring in the new year, the people of Gaza, struck by fear, were kept awake by the rumbles of explosions and bombs being dropped on them from the sky — a reminder to Palestinians of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s words the day before that there is no end in sight to the bombardment, which he said will continue “for many more months” to come.
Palestinians have known all along that the real objective of Israel’s horrendous assault on Gaza is emptying the Strip of all Palestinians and the return of Jewish settlements. After nearly 90 days of relentless bombardment and a lackluster effort on the part of the Israeli government to negotiate the release of the hostages taken by Hamas, it has become clear even to Israelis that Netanyahu’s declared goals of “dismantling Hamas, returning our hostages, and ensuring that in Gaza there will be no one that threatens Israel” are nothing more than a cover for the government’s “transfer” plan.
The first phase of the transfer plan commenced with the carpet bombing of northern Gaza and an evacuation order telling Palestinians to leave the area — one of the most densely populated in the world — and move to southern Gaza “where they will be safer.” But no sooner had they reached southern Gaza than bombs started to rain on them again — in Beit Lahia, Khan Younis, Maghazi, and other heavily populated residential neighborhoods.
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