Gaza City [Gaza], July 9: Whenever Mansour Abu Al-Khaier stares across Gaza, all the 45-year-old Palestinian man sees is death and destruction in the tiny enclave after nearly two years of war between Hamas militants and Israel.
But even though Palestinian lives have been shattered during the course of Israeli airstrikes and heavy bombardment, Al-Khaier and others flatly reject U.S. President Donald Trump's Israeli-backed plan to displace Gaza's 2.3 million population.
"This is our land. Who would we leave it to, where would we go?" asked Al-Khaier, a technician.
Trump, hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday, indicated progress on a disputed initiative to relocate Palestinians out of the coastal enclave, citing "great cooperation from.surrounding countries."
Speaking to reporters at the start of a dinner between U.S. and Israeli officials, Netanyahu said the United States and Israel were working with other countries that would give Palestinians a "better future," suggesting that Gazans would be able to move to neighbouring nations.
In an exchange with Trump, Netanyahu said: "You know if people want to stay, they can stay. But if they want to leave they should be able to leave. It shouldn't be a prison. It should be an open place and give people free choice."
He added: "We're working with the United States very closely about finding countries that will seek to realise what they always say, that they wanted to give the Palestinians a better future. I think we're getting close to finding several countries."
Asked about Netanyahu's remarks, U.N. human rights spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told a Geneva press briefing:
"This raises concerns with regards to forcible transfer - the concept of voluntary transfers in the context that we are seeing in Gaza right now (is) very questionable."
Five days after becoming president in January, Trump said Jordan and Egypt should take in Palestinians from Gaza while suggesting he was open to this being a long-term plan.
Cairo and Amman quickly rebuffed Trump's idea to turn impoverished Gaza into the "Riviera of the Middle East", and so did Palestinians and human rights groups who said the plan would amount to ethnic cleansing.
When asked this week about displacing Palestinians, Trump said the countries around Israel were helping out. "We've had great cooperation from . surrounding countries. . So something good will happen," Trump said.
Saed, a 27-year-old Gaza Palestinian, woke up troubled to the news that Trump and Netanyahu, whose military has flattened much of Gaza, were again floating the displacement idea.
Even after more than 20 months of war and repeated internal displacement, he remains deeply attached to Gaza, a tiny, densely-populated strip that is itself home to generations of refugees from the 1948 war that led to the creation of Israel.
"We have the right to leave of our own free will and visit other countries, but we reject the plan of displacement as Palestinians," said Saed.
Palestinians have long sought to create an independent state in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem through a U.S.-mediated peace process.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Corporation
