Egypt rejects any Palestinian displacement, warns against complicity in ‘ethnic cleansing’
Egypt has said it will not permit any Israeli plan to displace Palestinians, warning other states against becoming complicit in ethnic cleansing and a war crime under international law.
In a statement on Sunday, the foreign ministry urged governments to reject what it called “an immoral crime” that would violate the Geneva Conventions and carry grave political consequences. Any party that took part in such a scheme, it said, would bear “historical and legal responsibility”.
The ministry said that Egypt rejects any attempts to displace the Palestinian people from their historic land—whether in the Gaza Strip or the occupied West Bank—under any pretext, justification, or label, whether carried out “forcibly or voluntarily through policies of starvation, land confiscation, settlement expansion, and rendering life untenable on Palestinian soil.”
It added that displacement as part of a broader “expansionist policy” aimed at depopulating Palestinian land, entrenching occupation and liquidating the Palestinian cause.
The statement followed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s confirmation that Israel had held talks with several states about resettling displaced Palestinians from Gaza, without officially naming them.
The ministry stressed that Egypt “will not accept displacement, will not participate in it … and will not permit it as it would inevitably lead to the liquidation of the Palestinian cause.”
Reports have pointed to South Sudan among the countries approached, though its government has publicly denied any such discussions.
Cairo said it was concerned by the reports but had contacted the states mentioned and was assured they had rejected the proposals.
