The US president’s proposal to relocate Palestinians from the Gaza Strip has been condemned by Iran, which joins other nations in rejecting the move.
Instead of promoting other concepts that would amount to ethnic cleansing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday that the international community should assist Palestinians in “securing their right to self-determination.”
Trump has repeatedly suggested moving the Gaza Strip’s entire population to Egypt and Jordan in response to Baghaei’s comments.
Trump called Gaza a “demolition site” following 15 months of Israeli bombardment that rendered most of the territory’s 2.3 million people homeless.
“‘ Cleaning out ‘ Gaza … is part of colonial erasure of]the] Gaza Strip and the whole Palestine”, Baghaei said, adding that “no third party” can decide on the future of the Palestinian territory.
Iran and Israel, enemies for years, saw their first direct exchange of fire during the war in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet Trump in Washington, DC, as part of his international tour that will see him meet with the president in the first place since his return to office.
The Israeli prime minister said he would discuss “victory over Hamas”, countering Iran, and releasing all the captives held by Hamas when he meets Trump on Tuesday before taking his flight to Tel Aviv on Sunday.
Trump’s proposal for widespread displacement of Gaza has been vehemently rejected by Egypt and Jordan, two important US allies in the region.
Five Arab countries’ foreign ministers released a joint statement on Saturday, outlining their opposition to Trump’s request that Egypt and Jordan bring in Palestinians from Gaza.
Foreign ministers and officials from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, the Palestinian Authority and the Arab League said Trump’s proposed move would threaten stability in the region, spread conflict and undermine prospects for peace.
“We affirm our rejection of]any attempts] to compromise Palestinians ‘ unalienable rights, whether through settlement activities, or evictions or annexation of land or through vacating the land from its owners … in any form or under any circumstances or justifications”, the statement read.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi added that moving Palestinians to Egypt would result in “instability for Egyptian national security and Arab national security in our region.”
“I declare unwaveringly that we will not tolerate the displacement of the Palestinian people from their land,” said El-Sisi.
Despite the backlash, Trump has insisted that Egypt and Jordan will eventually agree to his demands of displacing Gaza’s population.
“They will do it, OK”? last week, he told reporters. “We do a lot for them, and they’re going to do it”.
International law may have led to forced displacement, according to rights groups.
Source: Aljazeera
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