Israeli minister calls to 'encourage' Palestinian exodus, demands end to Oslo accords
Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich has openly called for the next Israeli cabinet to “encourage” the forced departure of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank.
Speaking at a meeting of his Religious Zionism party with settlement leaders on Tuesday, Smotrich also demanded a formal end to the Oslo Accords, the 1990s agreements between the Israeli regime and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) that were meant to "resolve the conflict and guarantee Palestinians’ right to self-determination."
The Palestinian Authority (PA), which has limited governance over the occupied West Bank, was established following the Oslo Accords.
“Destroy the idea of an Arab terror state; finally, formally and practically cancel the cursed Oslo Accords and get on the path of sovereignty, while encouraging migration both from Gaza and from Judea and Samaria,” the hawkish minister said, using the Hebrew term for the West Bank.
“There is no other long-term solution,” Smotrich made the remarks at a vineyard near Ramallah where he presented "Colonisation 2030."
His remarks signal an escalation in Israeli rhetoric towards the West Bank, which until now had largely centered on annexation and the ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip.
The comments follow Israel’s recent approval of a plan to register large areas of the West Bank as “state property,” prompting Palestinian authorities and resistance groups to warn that the move could pave the way for formal annexation.
Registration of land in the occupied territories establishes permanent ownership, effectively consolidating Israeli control over the Palestinian lands.
The West Bank is among the areas that Palestinians seek for a future independent state, along with Gaza and occupied East al-Quds.
Much of the West Bank is now under direct Israeli military control, with extremely limited Palestinian self-rule in some areas, governed by the Western-backed PA.
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