Arab states warn against displacement of Palestinians as Israel goes after Hamas

Arab neighbours have responded bluntly to calls for a humanitarian corridor or an escape route for Palestinians from Gaza as the confrontation between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist party Hamas has intensified. Jordan, which borders the West Bank that is controlled by Israel, and Egypt, the only Arab nation with a border to Gaza, have both issued statements against the eviction of Palestinians from their homes. It underscores widespread Arab apprehensions that Israel’s most recent conflict with Hamas in Gaza would lead to another round of long-term evictions from territory where Palestinians hope to establish a future state. “This is the cause of all causes, the cause of all Arabs,” Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Thursday. “It is important that the (Palestinian) people remain steadfast and present on their land.” For Palestinians, the prospect of leaving or being expelled from territory where they hope to found a state evokes memories of the “Nakba,” or “catastrophe,” in which numerous Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes during the 1948 conflict that preceded Israel’s founding. Around 700,000 Palestinians—roughly half the Arab population of what was once British-ruled Palestine—were evicted and forced to flee; many of them ended up in adjacent Arab states, where they or many of their descendants still reside. Many people still occupy refugee camps. Israel disputes the claim that it expelled Palestinians, claiming that five Arab governments fought it soon after it was founded. After a devastating attack by Hamas militants on October 7, Israel began an intense bombardment of Gaza. Since then, hundreds of thousands of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have fled their homes while still remaining inside Gaza, a tiny sliver of land wedged between Israel, Egypt, and the Mediterranean Sea. More than a million Gaza City residents were advised by the Israeli military on Friday to leave their city for the south within 24 hours for their own protection. This declaration was interpreted as an indication that Israel would soon begin a land assault. “Hold on to your homes. Hold on to your land,” was the message broadcast from mosques in Gaza, as tens of thousands of people headed south. Others vowed to stay. “Death is better than leaving,” said Mohammad, 20, outside a bombed Gaza building. King Abdullah of Jordan warned “against any attempt to forcibly displace Palestinians from all Palestinian territories or cause their internal displacement, calling for preventing a spillover of the crisis into neighbouring countries and the exacerbation of the refugee issue”. Antonio Guterres, the secretary-general of the United Nations, was immediately urged to denounce “this insane Israeli effort to transfer the population” by Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the head of the 22-member Arab League. The idea of a safe passage for people in Gaza was brought up by the United States this week, according to reports from Egypt and Israel. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said: “Civilians need to be protected. We do not want to see a mass exodus of Gazans.” Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, said the evacuation warning was “to temporarily move (people) south … to mitigate civilian harm.” “The U.N. should be praising Israel for these precautionary actions,” Erdan told U.N. diplomats at a Israel-hosted event with families of Israelis kidnapped by Hamas. “For years, the U.N. has put its head in the sand in the face of Hamas’s terror build-up in Gaza.” One of the trickiest problems in the deadlocked peace process is what will happen to the Palestinian refugees. The right of those refugees and their descendants to return should be part of any agreement, according to the Palestinians and Arab governments; Israel has historically opposed this. Arab anxiety has increased as a result of some Israeli pronouncements. Palestinians should “get out” of Gaza through the Rafah gate, which is located on the southern border of Gaza with Egypt, according to an Israeli military spokesman on Tuesday. In a correction, the Israeli military stated that the crossing was shut at the time. The main access point for residents of Gaza to the outside world is the Rafah crossing. Israel is accessible from every other exit. People displaced inside, according to Mariam al-Farra, a 36-year-old mother of two in Khan Younis in southern Gaza “People are just saying we are all going to Sinai – that we are going to be forcibly displaced,” she said. “We have nothing to do with any of this. We just want to live in peace.” (With agency inputs)