· Israel is in discussion with South Sudan about forcibly relocating Palestinians in Gaza to the country, according to Israeli media and AP news.
· In a desperate bid to remove sanctions and lift a travel ban, the government of South Sudan has already opened its doors to American deportees.
The government of South Sudan (which is a separate country than Sudan) is in talks with Israel regarding the forcible displacement of Palestinians, according to six people familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press.
The proposal is part of a wider plan to displace all Palestinians from Gaza, a move human rights groups warn could be labelled ethnic cleansing, while violating international law.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said on Tuesday in an interview with i24 TV station: “I think that the right thing to do, even according to the laws of war as I know them, is to allow the population to leave, and then you go in with all your might against the enemy who remains there.”
Although Netanyahu never directly mentioned Sudan, the Associated Press has reported that Israel and Trump have floated similar proposals with Sudan and Somalia.
The talks seem to indicate that in exchange for South Sudan’s acceptance of Palestinian refugees, South Sudan could potentially get US sanctions relief and have the travel ban lifted.
Joe Szlavik, founder of a US lobbying firm working with South Sudan, has said that he was briefed by South Sudanese officials on the talks. He suggested that the US could be involved in any agreement about the forcible displacement of Palestinians, while also confirming South Sudan’s eagerness to become a bastion in enabling ethnic cleansing in exchange for US concessions.
The ethnic cleansing of Palestinians is not new. Throughout its existence, Israel has ethnically cleansed and forcibly displaced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in full view of the international community. The expulsion of 2.2. million people from Gaza, however, would constitute the largest displacement of Palestinians in modern history.
The population of Gaza is already suffering from severe malnourishment, with Israel continuing to block the flow of humanitarian aid into the enclave. The suffering has reached such levels that even in the eyes of the international community, pressure on Israel to halt what many describe as an ongoing genocide has intensified.
For the United States, the removal of 2.2 million Palestinians appears to serve as a way to resolve its growing embarrassment on the world stage. Such an outcome would help obscure and prevent further documentation of potential war crimes from being broadcast to the global public.
