World Politics News   Articles for World Politics Course

Israel is preparing for a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip and it has encouraged the Palestinians in the north of the Gaza to move to the southern part of the territory so that civilians will not be subjected to what will likely be a very intense campaign.

It is difficult to move 1.1 million people in such a short period of time given that much of the Gazan infrastructure has been destroyed by bombing. Many people in Gaza have no place to go in the bleak southern part of the Strip and Egypt has not opened the Rafah crossing into Egyptian territory. I suspect that Egypt does not want to be responsible for such a huge influx of refugees. And many Palestinians do not want to leave their homes or familiar neighborhoods. Hamas has encouraged the people not to move to the south, which has been interpreted by some as an attempt to use the civilians as a shield from Israeli bombardment.

The more likely explanation for the number of Palestinians who chose not to evacuate is the fear that they could never return to their homes. While Israel has a “right of return” for any Jew who wishes to emigrate to Israel, it has not allowed the more than 750,000 Palestinians who left their homes in 1948 upon the creation of the state of Israel to return. Many Palestinians refer to that episode as the Nabka (“the Catastrophe”). That refusal is a violation of international law as described by the Institute for Middle East Understanding:

• All refugees have a right to return to areas from which they have fled or were forced, to receive compensation for damages, and to either regain their properties or receive compensation and support for voluntary resettlement. This right derives from a number of legal sources, including customary international law, international humanitarian law governing rights of civilians during war, and human rights law. The United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights states in Article 13(2) that “[e]veryone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and return to his own country.” This is an individual right and cannot be unilaterally abrogated by third parties.
• In December 1948, following Israel’s establishment and the attendant displacement of approximately 750,000 Palestinians from areas that fell within its control, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 194, which states, “refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible.”
• The Palestinian right of return has been confirmed repeatedly by the UN General Assembly, including through Resolution 3236, which “Reaffirms also the inalienable right of the Palestinians to return to their homes and property from which they have been displaced and uprooted, and calls for their return.”

There were Israeli settlers who lived in the Gaza Strip after the 1967 war but all 21 Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip were unilaterally evacuated in 2005. I suspect that many Palestinians fear that depopulating the Gaza will offer an opportunity for Israel to assert renewed territorial control in the Gaza. I doubt that Israel is thinking about such a radical move and most Americans do not seem to be aware of that historical episode. But the Palestinian fear is not far-fetched to a people who suffered displacement. It remains unclear, however, what the Israeli plans for the Gaza are. Given the level of destruction that has already occurred in the Gaza, it is unlikely that anyone will be living comfortably there for an extraordinarily long time.