More than 90 US and international organisations condemn Trump’s Gaza ‘ethnic cleansing’ plan, urging respect for Palestinian rights and opposing forced displacement. [Getty]
More than 90 American and international organisations issued a joint statement on Tuesday condemning US President Donald Trump’s repeated remarks advocating for the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza and its subsequent US control, which critics have described as an “ethnic cleansing plan”.
Signatories include the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Doctors Against Genocide, the Progressive Democrats Coalition, Jewish Voice for Peace, Churches for Middle East Peace, September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, and the Forum on Human Rights.
Trump reaffirmed his stance this week on permanently emptying Gaza of its over 2 million Palestinian residents, stating they would not be allowed to return.
He also suggested he would pressure Egypt and Jordan to accept them by threatening to cut off US aid, sparking backlash from Palestinians and Arab states.
The organisations stressed in the letter that “the forcible displacement of civilians is a violation of international humanitarian law”.
“Forcible displacement, when carried out with an intent to permanently remove a people from a land on the basis of their identity is ethnic cleansing,” the statement said.
The organisations also raised concerns over Israeli officials’s public calls for further settlement expansion in Gaza– despite Israel withdrawing from the Palestinian territory in 2005- arguing that such plans “further reinforce[s] the intent of ethnic cleansing.”
Referencing the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, it noted that “while we agree that the short and medium-term humanitarian needs of the people of Gaza may be difficult to meet given the nearly complete destruction that Israel has wrought if the necessary services cannot be provided in Gaza, the people of Gaza must be able to access them elsewhere within the historic borders of Palestine and must be able to return.”
The organisations asserted that the United States has no right to impose its decisions on the Palestinian people in Gaza, where Israeli forces have killed nearly 61,000 people according to local authorities who have reported the additional 14,000 people missing and presumed dead.
They also condemned any attempts to pressure other countries into facilitating the expulsion of Palestinians, referencing Trump’s proposal to relocate them to Egypt and Jordan.
The organisations expressed full support for the joint statement issued by Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, the Palestinian Authority, and the Arab League, which unequivocally rejected such measures.
They also voiced deep concern over the escalating violence by Israeli settlers and military operations in the occupied West Bank, which has intensified since the war on Gaza began on 7 October 2023, resulting in significant Palestinian casualties.
The organisations stressed that these actions are part of a broader strategy aimed at rendering Gaza and other Palestinian areas “unliveable for the Palestinian people,” amounting to what they described as “ethnic cleansing”.
Trump has framed the plan as being in the Palestinians’ best interest, following Israel’s 16-month assault that has reduced entire neighbourhoods to rubble and rendered much of Gaza uninhabitable.
In exchange, he has proposed relocating them to a so-called “beautiful new land” elsewhere.
Under this vision, the United States would assume control of Gaza and transform it into a luxury “Riviera” for “the world’s people”.
Most recently, the Republican leader faced pushback from Jordan’s King Abdullah, following his Tuesday visit to Washington.
“I reiterated Jordan’s steadfast position against the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. This is the unified Arab position. Rebuilding Gaza without displacing the Palestinians and addressing the dire humanitarian situation should be the priority for all,” the Jordanian monarch said on social media after the talks.
However, King Abdullah told Trump that Egypt was working on a plan outlining how regional countries could collaborate with him on his controversial proposal.
He also appeared to offer a concession to Trump, who had floated the possibility of cutting US aid to Jordan the day before if it refused to take in Palestinian refugees.
“One of the things that we can do right away is take 2,000 children, cancer children who are in a very ill state. That is possible,” the King said as Trump welcomed him and Crown Prince Hussein to the Oval Office.
Trump responded by calling it “a really beautiful gesture,” adding that he was unaware of the offer before the Jordanian king’s arrival at the White House.
