Ramallah: In a move that has been condemned by Palestinians as ethnic cleansing and collective punishment, the Israeli regime has decided to expel the families of Palestinian attackers to the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon and leaders of the Israeli occupation forces held a meeting on Tuesday to consider and approve the move among other measures of collective punishments including the increasing checks of Palestinian vehicles on shared West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem routes and the immediate cancellation of work permits of the attackers’ family members. Israeli colonists in the West Bank travel on routes dedicated only for Jews, as well as those roads on which the native Palestinians are allowed to travel.
Israeli military leadership decided to expel family members of West Bank and East Jerusalem attackers to the Gaza Strip aside from the immediate bulldozing of the attackers’ homes.
According to Israeli news site Ynet, Israeli political and diplomatic leadership is avoiding declaring collective punishment steps as the leadership fears such steps would further accelerate and deteriorate the security situation.
“The new Israeli measure of collective punishment against the Palestinians clearly indicates that Israel is keen to perpetuate the Palestinian internal split,” said Gaza based political analyst Talal Okal, adding that Palestinian division is a vital Israeli interest that handles the Gaza Strip like a big and isolated prison. “Deportations and expulsions to Gaza show that the Gaza Strip was another country and not a central part of the Palestinian soil,” he told Gulf News.
The new Israeli punitive measure is being discussed by the Hamas leadership in Gaza and it is likely that Hamas would refuse to absorb the expelled families of attackers from West Bank and East Jerusalem. “This is a fundamental and nationalist stance which is not meant in any way to refuse the Palestinian families, but to show categorical rejection to the Israeli measures of collective punishment against the Palestinians,” said Okal.
A Hamas cadre in West Bank said it will be unlikely that the Gaza Strip accommodates the Palestinian deportees. “Hamas will most probably refuse to accommodate the deportees. This is an Israeli problem that should be addressed and solved by the Israelis themselves,” said the cadre who requested to be unnamed. “Hamas will not allow Israel to go on with this devilish tactic.”
