Netanyahu to Form Team to Look into ‘Voluntary Migration’ of Palestinians

Palestinians run for cover from a raid near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City last November. (AFP)
Palestinians run for cover from a raid near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City last November. (AFP)
TT

Netanyahu to Form Team to Look into ‘Voluntary Migration’ of Palestinians

Palestinians run for cover from a raid near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City last November. (AFP)
Palestinians run for cover from a raid near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City last November. (AFP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intends to form a team to look into the deportation of thousands of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, according to a Likud MK.

This announcement was made during a Likud meeting two days ago in response to a call by MK Danny Danon who is chairman of World Likud and former Israeli Ambassador to the UN.

The deportation of Palestinians is becoming more popular among the Israeli right-wing parties and to make it more acceptable they suggest that it is a “voluntary migration”.

Several Israeli plans have been made public, discussing the deportation of Gazans to Egypt. One was prepared by the Ministry of Intelligence and the second by the Psagot Institute.

Likud Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel published an article last month on this matter in The Jerusalem Post. The Israeli Embassy in Washington had to state that the article doesn’t represent the government.

Meanwhile, this suggestion sparked anger in Egypt and Jordan and the Arab countries took a unified stance against it.

The US Administration responded to Arab demands and announced absolute rejection of deportation of Palestinians.

Danon revealed that he has been contacted by "countries in Latin America and Africa that are willing to take refugees from the Gaza Strip."

Danon termed this solution as “very humanitarian”.

According to the MK, this is "voluntary migration of Palestinians who wish to leave."

"It happens in every war, look at what's happening in Syria – one and a half million went to Jordan, three million went to Türkiye and another few million went to Europe," Danon added.

"I think the Arab states have a duty to help the Palestinians. They should have the decency to help instead of making inflammatory speeches,” he added.

Danon said that a couple of weeks ago MK Ram Ben-Barak published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal in the same spirit.



France's Top Court to Examine Arrest Warrant for Syria's Assad

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Reuters
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Reuters
TT

France's Top Court to Examine Arrest Warrant for Syria's Assad

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Reuters
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Reuters

Prosecutors said Tuesday they had asked France's highest court to review the legality of a French arrest warrant for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad over deadly chemical attacks on Syrian soil in 2013.

Syrian opposition say one of those attacks in August 2013 on the rebel-held suburbs of Damascus killed around 1,400 people, including more than 400 children, in one of the many horrors of the 13-year civil war.

Prosecutors said they had made the request to the Court of Cassation on Friday on judicial grounds, two days after an appeals court upheld the arrest order.

"This decision is by no means political. It is about having a legal question resolved," the prosecutors told AFP.

France is believed to have been the first country to issue an arrest warrant for a sitting foreign head of state in November.

Investigative magistrates specialized in so-called crimes against humanity, issued the warrant after several rights groups filed a complaint against Assad for his role in the chain of command for the alleged chemical attacks in the capital's suburbs on August 4, 5 and 21, 2013.

But prosecutors from a unit specialized in investigating "terrorist" attacks have sought to annul it, although they do not question the grounds for such an arrest.

They argue that immunity for foreign heads of state should only be lifted for international prosecutions, such as at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), lawyers' association Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) and the Syrian Archive, an organization documenting human rights violations in Syria, filed the initial complaint.