Date: August 13, 2025
In response to what was reported by the Associated Press regarding the occupying state's holding talks with African countries to receive Palestinians forcibly displaced from the Gaza Strip on their territory, the PLO's
Department of Refugee Affairs condemns Israeli plans to displace the Palestinian people outside the Gaza Strip and calls for Arab and international support to prevent the imposition of displacement as a fait accompli.
The Department of Refugee Affairs of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) affirmed its rejection and condemnation of Israeli plans to displace the Palestinian people outside the Gaza Strip, calling for Arab and international support to prevent the imposition of displacement as a fait accompli.
The statements of the Department of Refugee Affairs came in a statement issued today (Wednesday) in response to what was reported by the newspaper Haaretz, citing the Associated Press, regarding the occupying state of Israel's holding talks with African countries to receive Palestinians forcibly displaced from the Gaza Strip on their territory, as part of its US-backed plan to empty the Gaza Strip of its population.
The department noted that the administration of US President Donald Trump is pressuring a number of African and European countries to assist the occupying state of Israel in implementing and facilitating the displacement plan, as part of its broader plan to liquidate the Palestinian cause and undermine the two-state solution.
The department explained that the occupying state of Israel relies on multiple tools to implement its racist plan to displace Palestinians and force them to leave the Gaza Strip. This is achieved through unprecedented and systematic military pressure, the prevention of humanitarian aid, and the use of excessive force and starvation against civilians, making remaining in the Gaza Strip nearly impossible.
The Department stated: "The occupying state is turning its back on the international consensus rejecting the displacement of Palestinians and is refusing to respect the rules of international humanitarian law, which is supposed to be binding on it. This necessitates the imposition of deterrent sanctions to deter it from implementing its internationally rejected racist plan to displace our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip."
The Department affirmed that the crime of displacement represents a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and a blatant challenge to relevant United Nations resolutions and the legal advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, including the provisional measures ordered by the Court.
The Department explained that forced displacement is an international crime that violates human rights and fundamental freedoms, under Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, in addition to the 1945 United Nations Charter, which is binding on the Israeli government, and Article 49 of the 1949 Geneva Convention, which stipulates that "individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive." Which is binding on the occupying state of Israel under the resolutions of the Security Council, the United Nations General Assembly, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the International Court of Justice.
The department emphasized that consolidating the Palestinians' right to their land must be a top priority for the member states of the United Nations General Assembly, and that the available option is intensive political pressure at the Arab and international levels, through the United Nations, the European Union, and human rights organizations, to prevent the implementation of the displacement plan. It commended the stance of sister countries Egypt and Jordan, which reject any attempt to impose a new reality in the Gaza Strip through displacement.
The Department called on the UN Security Council to take immediate and decisive action to assume its responsibilities towards imposing a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire, ensuring the unhindered entry of humanitarian aid and basic needs in sufficient quantities throughout the Gaza Strip, providing effective international protection for the Palestinian people and strengthening their steadfastness on their land, taking the necessary measures to end the Israeli occupation, enabling the Palestinian people to realize the sovereignty of their independent state over the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 with Jerusalem as its capital, and enabling the Palestinian government to assume its duties in preserving the unity of the Palestinian territory, including the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and implementing emergency relief, economic recovery, and reconstruction programs.
