TheAltWorld Reconstruction Is the Euphemism for the Palestinian People’s Forced Transfer From Gaza
GAZA’S RECONSTRUCTION was never high on Israel’s agenda. But now it has been moved to oblivion with the announcements of two scaled-down projects that are a far cry from the reconstruction plans previously announced and changed multiple times since the start of the genocide in Gaza in October 2023. As Israel leveraged ambiguity by first agreeing and later disagreeing with plans laid out by U.S. President Donald Trump and the Board of Peace, reconstruction has become a waiting game during which Israel hopes to ultimately forcibly expel Palestinians from Gaza.
In August, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz approved the Green Rafah project, which is said to be a United Arab Emirates-funded pilot project. According to reports, the project envisages a temporary residential area in Eastern Rafah on territory occupied by Israel within the Yellow Line. Only Palestinians with no affiliation to Hamas would be allowed entry to Green Rafah, while Palestinians working in construction on the project would be subject to screenings by Shin Bet.
Meanwhile, under the auspices of the Board of Peace, the first construction contract has been awarded to the Louisiana-based firm Arkel International to build a military outpost to host 150 Moroccan troops that will form part of the International Stabilization Taskforce (ISF). The base, measuring 100 by 120 meters (2.97 acres) is in the area within the Yellow Line under Israeli control. The plan was considerably downsized from the original 350-acre compound that was to serve as the base for the ISF.
The two scaled-down projects do not affect Israel’s military occupation of Gaza. On the contrary, the approved construction projects are linked to surveillance and military presence which, given Israel’s widespread killing of Palestinians under the pretext of eliminating Hamas, make it unlikely to establish a permanent Palestinian presence.
In a recent meeting between Netanyahu and the Board of Peace officials, it was agreed that two working groups would be established—one dealing with the demilitarization of Gaza and the other with humanitarian issues. Netanyahu has again insisted that reconstruction would only take place after complete demilitarization of Gaza. Yet he also maintained that Israel would not withdraw from the Yellow Line, which places almost 70 percent of Gaza under military occupation.
The Board of Peace has become a willing accomplice in the forced displacement of the Palestinian people from Gaza. The working groups are merely rehashing earlier arguments and purported solutions that penalize Palestinians until demilitarization is achieved. The Board of Peace and Netanyahu have been quiet about what happens during the process of demilitarization if it occurs, and what happens if it does not. The formula is that Palestinians wait while Israel expands control over Gaza, which normalizes forced displacement in the same way the international community normalized genocide.
The approved pilot projects support Netanyahu’s pronouncements that the Israeli military would not retreat from Gaza and that no Palestinian state would be established. Temporary housing in Green Rafah does not provide security or contiguity for Palestinians, nor does it prevent Israel from forcibly displacing them. Likewise, if Israel does not withdraw from Gaza and reconstruction does not happen, the ISF’s role is nullified and the base would be unnecessary. It is likely that Israel does not envisage the need for the ISF, which makes the base easy to dismantle or repurpose.
Forced displacement from Gaza, promoted by Israel since the early days of the genocide, is looming under the guise of reconstruction. While the international community voiced itself against forced displacement, it mangled humanitarian aid and reconstruction from the start. The U.N.’s reconstruction plans did not consider that forced displacement was part of Israel’s genocidal strategy.
In December 2023, the U.N. Security Council passed Resolution 2720, which requested that the Secretary General appoint a senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator. The resolution focused on the entry of humanitarian aid and, more importantly, exposed the U.N.’s expectations that previous mechanisms would be once again implemented as a purported solution.
The Early Recovery Approach and Action Plan for Gaza, published in September 2024, still ignored the reality of genocide and forced displacement. Feasible recovery, the document states, requires “rebuilding Gaza as an integral part of a fully independent, contiguous, viable and sovereign Palestinian state.” The report envisages Israel’s collaboration in Gaza’s reconstruction and refers to the defunct two-state politics as the framework upon which reconstruction is based. Yet Netanyahu repeatedly stated his opposition to the creation of a Palestinian “state.”
The U.N. reports also neglect important facts in Israel’s narrative. In the immediate aftermath of October 7, Israeli officials had openly called for a second Nakba. A leaked document from Israel’s Intelligence Ministry dated Oct. 13, 2023, just six days into the genocide, gives three options for the future of Palestinians in Gaza, and lists forced transfer of Palestinians as the most viable option for Israel. The document notes that Israel would require “a broad diplomatic initiative aimed at countries that will support assisting the displaced population and agree to absorb them as refugees.”
No country has so far been forthcoming to receive Palestinians that are forcibly displaced from Gaza, but the ongoing ethnic cleansing through genocide has rendered reconstruction null. The longer it took for the U.N. to acknowledge the genocide, the more time Israel maintained forced displacement among a cacophony of plans ranging from real estate beachfront property as initially envisaged by Trump and Jared Kushner, to the scaled-down reconstruction projects under the auspices of the Board of Peace.
More recently, the Board of Peace’s High Representative Nickolay Mladenov gave Israel the green light for further destruction and military occupation in Gaza. Far from ensuring that Palestinians can eventually return to Gaza, Mladenov was reported to have stated that destroying Gaza’s tunnel network “may extend for more than ten years of continuous work.” According to Mladenov, the task would be carried out by external contractors.
The bottom line, again, is forced displacement. Netanyahu’s outright rejection of Trump’s 15-point plan has been linked to the upcoming Israeli election on Oct. 27. Israelis have expressed scepticism over the plan, which brings Netanyahu on a par with a considerable segment of the electorate. However, the Board of Peace is opting for a long-term strategy that prevents Palestinians from returning to Gaza, and Netanyahu is partial to a waiting game that normalizes international law violations, because the waiting game imposed upon Palestinians works to Israel’s advantage.
Laying additional groundwork for a long-term, normalized, forced displacement of the Palestinian people, Israel replaced the term “voluntary migration” with the euphemism “free movement plan.” The wording does little to disguise the war crime of forced transfer, but Israel is reportedly anticipating that rebranding would eventually entice other countries to collaborate.
In between a stalemate of forced transfer, the futility of temporary projects that can be easily dismantled, and the heightened possibility of additional warfare in Gaza—this time to destroy the tunnel network—Netanyahu has been handed the perfect opportunity to refuse Palestinians in Gaza their right of return. By playing the reconstruction card at intervals while keeping Palestinians out of the Yellow Line, Netanyahu has ensured worldwide diplomatic silence.
0 thoughts on “Reconstruction Is the Euphemism for the Palestinian People’s Forced Transfer From Gaza”