“Resettle Gaza”: Netanyahu’s Likud Party just said the quiet part out loud

Defenders of Israel often criticise people who call it a settler-colonial project. But it’s all out in the open. And a series of upcoming events show how Israeli politicians from Netanyahu’s Likud Party want to ‘resettle Gaza’ in the wake of the ongoing genocide.

The UN and human rights organisations have long condemned illegal settler activity in the occupied West Bank. Even Israeli allies in the UK and the US have. It’s common knowledge. It’s modern colonialism. But what hasn’t made it into the mainstream Western media much is the fact that many people in the Israeli government and in Israeli society want to recolonise Gaza too.

Netanyahu’s party invites people to ‘resettle Gaza’

War criminal prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling party, Likud, has just invited people to an event about “Preparing to Resettle Gaza”. And numerous politicians from the party, and others, are planning to attend. The event will take place near Israel’s apartheid barrier with occupied Gaza, close to the small colonial city of Sderot.

A poster for the 21 October event reads:

we will stand together — Likud members, regional [Likud] branch chairs, MKs and ministers — to jointly declare that ‘Gaza is ours. Forever.’

The Nachala movement, which has established illegal outposts in the West Bank, has organised the Likud-backed event.

As Haaretz noted, the group says this is “not just a theoretical conference, but a practical exercise”, adding that “the return to settlement in Gaza is no longer just an idea but a process that is already in advanced stages, with government and public support”.

And this is not a new resettle Gaza movement. As the Times of Israel reported:

Nachala organized another conference in January, which also advocated for the reestablishment of Israeli settlements in Gaza in addition to “encouraging voluntary emigration” of Palestinians out of the Strip. The gathering was attended by over two dozen ministers and lawmakers.

Likud: “Gaza City will be Jewish”

The Times of Israel also stated in a separate article that, on 20 October:

activists will hold a large conference on “Jewish settlement in Gaza” at Jerusalem’s International Convention Center that is expected to draw over 3,000 people.

It added that:

close to a third of government members and the Knesset do support renewed settlement within the Gaza Strip

The plan, it explained, would be to follow a settlement strategy that has worked for years in the West Bank, with settlers:

establishing themselves on the territory or at army locations in small groups as the government and the army turn a blind eye; utilizing connections and political pressure in the Knesset and the corridors of power; and mass events, demonstrations and conferences that push the agenda for new settlements.

Speaking about the event, Nachala chair Daniella Weiss said the settlements people plan to build “already have names, and there is also an action strategy”. She continued by saying:

We managed to register 400 families in seven core settlement groups all over Gaza….

Gaza City will be Jewish…

We formed serious teams, collected donations…

In the city of Khan Younis, a Jewish city will be built and we will call it Hanut Yona.

Thousands of Israeli settlers illegally occupied land in Gaza from 1970 onwards. In 2005, as Amnesty International explained, Israel withdrew its troops and settlements, but maintained an “illegal air, sea and land blockade” which kept a stranglehold on the territory.

Since 7 October 2023, Israeli demolitions of Palestinian homes in occupied East Jerusalem have increased significantly, as has the establishment of new illegal outposts and settlements in the occupied West Bank. There are now “unprecedented levels” of settler violence, according to the UN.

“We are occupying, deporting, and settling”

Netanyahu denies intending to resettle Gaza. However, his actions suggest that he wouldn’t mind if it happened.

For example, when he addressed the United Nations in September 2023, he “held up two maps of the Middle East with Israel highlighted in blue”. Both of these, as Al Jazeera reported, showed all the territories that Israel occupies, including Gaza, as part of Israel.

A year later, he showed another map, which erased the West Bank and carved up Gaza with sections under Israeli military control.

And the reality is, as the Times of Israel reported, that:

Government ministers, leading Knesset members, public figures and thousands of activists have been vigorously working on the plan since the war with Hamas began on October 7, and have ramped up their efforts in the last few weeks.

One of Netanyahu’s ministers, for example, said:

We must promote a solution to encourage the emigration of the residents of Gaza

Another asserted that Israel “will rule” in Gaza, and that, “in order to rule there securely for a long time, we must have a civilian presence”.

Back in January, CNN quoted Israeli pollster and journalist Dahlia Scheindlin saying:

The general range goes from about 25% who want to re-establish permanent communities, Jewish Israeli communities in Gaza, to somewhere in the 40% range…

That is not a small portion of Israeli society.

In short, it’s not just movements on the fringe that want to resettle Gaza. It’s a common view, and it has been on display on the killing fields too.

As CNN reported, Israeli soldiers filmed themselves in front of the devastation in Gaza saying “we are occupying, deporting, and settling”. Soldiers also took a photo with a banner reading “only settlement would be considered victory!”

Colonialism and genocide go hand in hand. And Israel’s behaviour in occupied Palestine is a perfect example of that.

Featured image via the Canary