Israel‘s former prime minister Ehud Olmert has strongly criticised the country’s proposed plans to build a ‘humanitarian city’, warning that such a move could amount to ethnic cleansing.
Olmert described the suggested facility could become a ‘concentration camp’ and said its construction would escalate what he views as Israel’s current violations of international law.
‘It is a concentration camp. I am sorry,’ he said, referring to the plan outlined last week by Israel Katz.
The defence minister has instructed the military to begin operational planning for the project, which would be built on the ruins of Rafah and initially house 600,000 people.
It would eventually accommodate the entire Palestinian population of Gaza.
Olmert, who led the country from 2006 to 2009, told The Guardian: ‘If they [Palestinians] will be deported into the new ‘humanitarian city’, then you can say that this is part of an ethnic cleansing. It hasn’t yet happened.’
He added that such a move would be ‘the inevitable interpretation’ of any effort to construct a large camp intended to contain hundreds of thousands of people.
Olmert said he does not currently view Israel’s military campaign as ethnic cleansing.
Israel’s former prime minister Ehud Olmert has strongly criticised plans to build the facility saying it could amount to ethnic cleansing
Under proposed plans, the ‘humanitarian city’ would be built on the ruins of Rafah
Olmert said such a move would be ‘the inevitable interpretation’ of any effort to construct a large camp intended to contain hundreds of thousands of people
His comments come after it was reported yesterday that an IDF missile strike resulted in the deaths of six children who were waiting for water.
The military blamed the incident on a malfunction, saying it had missed its target.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supports the ‘humanitarian city’ plan.
But Olmert questioned the stated humanitarian rationale behind the project, especially in the context of recent political rhetoric and settlement expansion initiatives.
He said: ‘When they build a camp where they [plan to] ‘clean’ more than half of Gaza, then the inevitable understanding of the strategy of this [is that] it is not to save [Palestinians].
‘It is to deport them, to push them and to throw them away. There is no other understanding that I have, at least.’
Olmert gave his comments on the same day that funerals were held in the occupied West Bank for two Palestinian men who were killed by Israeli settlers.
He criticised attacks initiated by settlers.
Olmert questioned the stated humanitarian rationale behind the project
The former prime minister also condemned the actions of Israeli settlers accused of attacking Palestinians
‘[It is] unforgivable. Unacceptable. There are continuous operations organised and orchestrated in the most brutal, criminal manner by a large group’, he added.
The perpetrators are often referred to within Israel as ‘hilltop youth’ and are generally characterised as fringe extremists.
However, Olmert said he preferred the term ‘hilltop atrocities’ to describe their actions.
‘There is no way that they can operate in such a consistent, massive and widespread manner without a framework of support and protection which is provided by the [Israeli] authorities in the [occupied Palestinian] territories,’ he said.
Olmert also criticised hardline cabinet ministers who support settlement growth and oversee law enforcement in the West Bank, describing them as a serious internal threat.
He warned that both the suffering in Gaza and settler violence in the West Bank were contributing to mounting international criticism of Israel.
‘We make a discount to ourselves saying: “They are antisemites.” I don’t think that they are only antisemites, I think many of them are anti-Israel because of what they watch on television, what they watch on social networks.
‘This is a painful but normal reaction of people who say: ‘Hey, you guys have crossed every possible line.”
He believes the suffering in Gaza and the violence in the West Bank is contributing to international criticism of Israel
He still believes a negotiated peace is possible.
He is working with former Palestinian foreign minister Nasser al-Kidwa to advocate for such an agreement internationally.
