Dystopian city

The Israeli government has just put forward one of the most brazenly genocidal schemes in modern memory – and unless we act immediately, the world will once again let it happen.

As reported in Haaretz, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz is proposing to force some 600,000 Palestinians – and eventually the entire population of Gaza – into a fenced-in “humanitarian city” to be built on the ruins of Rafah in southern Gaza. The plan is to “screen” the population, separate out alleged Hamas members, and then pressure the remaining civilians – men, women, and children – to “voluntarily” leave Gaza for another country. Which country? That hasn’t even been determined. The point isn’t relocation – it’s erasure. This reflects a long-standing goal among many Israelis, especially on the right, to take full control of Gaza and clear it of Palestinians.

The United Nations has warned that the deportation or forcible transfer of an occupied territory’s civilian population is strictly prohibited under international humanitarian law and “tantamount to ethnic cleansing.” While all eyes are focused on a possible cease-fire, Katz is not interested in peace – he’s interested in a “final solution.” A speeding up of the second Nakba we have been witnessing for the past 20 months. In fact, he has stated that construction would begin during a 60-day cease-fire. So what’s the point of a cease-fire, if it’s used to build a concentration camp?

Once Palestinians are herded into this camp, they will not be allowed to leave for other parts of Gaza. They won’t be allowed to return to what’s left of their homes, their neighborhoods, their farms, their schools. They will be trapped inside this militarized zone, under constant surveillance, held at gunpoint until Israel can arrange their deportation. Just think of the tragic, unbearable irony: the Israeli government – founded in the aftermath of the Holocaust – is now building a massive concentration camp for an entire population. If that sounds unthinkable, look at what Israel has already gotten away with.

For the past 20 months, the world has watched – and largely enabled – a genocidal campaign in Gaza. Over 55,000 Palestinians have been slaughtered, the majority of them women and children. Israel has bombed hospitals, schools, refugee camps, and mosques. It has flattened entire neighborhoods with AI-generated kill lists. It has assassinated journalists, targeted ambulances, destroyed bakeries and water systems.

It has used hunger as a weapon of war, deliberately blocking aid trucks, attacking convoys, and starving the population into desperation. And in a cruel twist, it has created the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation – a scheme to funnel aid through Israeli-controlled routes and sideline the UN and experienced NGOs. Its so-called “distribution points” are really death traps, where desperate people have been shot day after day as they risk their lives to get a bit of food. This engineered starvation is not an accident.

Excerpted: ‘Stop Israel’s Dystopian ‘Humanitarian City’ Plan – Before It’s Too Late’.

Courtesy: Commondreams.org