It's clear – Israel now has a plan for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza

Gideon Levy is a Haaretz columnist and a member of the newspaper’s editorial board. Levy joined Haaretz in 1982, and spent four years as the newspaper’s deputy editor. He was the recipient of the Euro-Med Journalist Prize for 2008; the Leipzig Freedom Prize in 2001; the Israeli Journalists’ Union Prize in 1997; and The Association of Human Rights in Israel Award for 1996. His new book, The Punishment of Gaza, has just been published by Verso.

 Adolf Eichmann began his Nazi career as the head of the Central Agency for Jewish Emigration at the security agency charged with protecting the Reich. Joseph Brunner, the father of Mossad chief David Barnea, was three years old when he fled Nazi Germany with his parents, before the evacuation plan was implemented.

Last week, Barnea, the grandson, visited Washington in order to discuss the “evacuation” of the Gaza Strip’s population. Barak Ravid reported on Channel 12 News that Barnea told his interlocutors that Israel has already begun talks with three countries on this issue, and the irony of history hid its face in shame. A grandson of a refugee of ethnic cleansing in Germany discusses ethnic cleansing, and no memory comes to mind.

In order to “evacuate” two million people from their country, you need a plan. Israel has been working on one. The first stage involves transferring much of the population into a concentration camp in order to facilitate an efficient deportation.

Last week, the BBC published an investigative report based on satellite photos, showing systematic destruction carried out by the IDF across the Gaza Strip. Village after village is being wiped off the face of the earth, which is being flattened for the sake of constructing the concentration camp, so that life in Gaza will no longer be possible.

Preparations for the first Israeli concentration camp are in full swing. Systematic destruction is proceeding throughout the enclave so that there is nowhere to return to other than the concentration camp.

In order to carry out this work, bulldozers are required. The BBC presented two wanted ads. One described “a project involving the demolition of buildings in Gaza requires (40-ton) bulldozer operators. The job includes payment of 1,200 shekels ($357) a day, including food and lodging, with an option of obtaining a private vehicle.” The second ad said that “work hours are Sunday to Thursday, from 7 A.M. to 4:45 P.M., with excellent working conditions.”

Israel is quietly perpetrating a crime against humanity. Not a house here and a house there, no “operational necessities,” but a systematic elimination of any chance of life there, while preparing the infrastructure for concentrating people in a “humanitarian” city intended to be a transit camp – before deportation to Libya, Ethiopia and Indonesia, the destinations Barnea specified, according to Channel 12.

That is the plan for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza. Someone conceived it, there were discussions of pros and cons, alternatives were suggested, options of total cleansing vs. stages, and all done in air-conditioned conference rooms with minutes taken and decisions made. For the first time since the war of revenge in Gaza began, it’s clear that Israel has a plan – and it’s a far-reaching one.

This is no longer a rolling war. One can no longer accuse Benjamin Netanyahu of waging a war with no purpose. There is a purpose to this war, and it’s a criminal one. One can no longer tell army commanders that their troops are dying for no reason: They are dying in a war of ethnic cleansing.

The ground is ready, one can move to the transfer of people, the want ads are on their way. After moving the population is completed, and the residents of the humanitarian city start missing their lives among the ruins, amid hunger, disease and bombing, it will be possible to move to the final stage: forcible placement on trucks and planes en route to the new and longed-for homeland – Libya, Indonesia or Ethiopia.

If the humanitarian aid enterprise took the lives of hundreds of people, the deportation will take the lives of tens of thousands. But nothing will block Israel on its way to realising its plan.

Yes, there is a plan, and it’s more diabolical than it appears to be. At some point, people sat down and concocted this plot. It would be naïve to think that all this happened on its own. In 50 years, the minutes will be released, and we will learn who was in favor and who opposed this plan. Who thought of perhaps leaving one hospital intact.

Along with the officers and politicians, there were also engineers, architects, demographers and people from the budget division. Maybe there were representatives from the Health Ministry. We will find out all in 50 years.

Meanwhile, the head of the Central Agency for Palestinian Emigration, David Barnea, has implemented an additional stage. He is an obedient senior official, having never caused friction with those above him. Does that sound familiar? He is the hero of the campaign for mass amputations through walkie-talkies. If you send him to save hostages, he goes. If you send him to prepare the deportation of millions of people? Not a problem for him. After all, he is only obeying orders.

 

Republished from HAARETZ, 20 July 2025

The views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Pearls and Irritations.

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