Israel’s Secret Displacement Plans: Decades of Palestinian Forced Migration Revealed

Watan-The Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom reported that the displacement of Palestinians from their homeland is not a new idea but dates back more than six decades. In May, an incident that resulted in the killing of the Israeli ambassador’s secretary in Paraguay exposed a secret plan for its implementation.

According to the newspaper, which is freely distributed in Israel and is known for its extremism, Khaled Darwish Kassab (21 years old) and Talal Al-Damasi (20 years old) were among the thousands of Gazans whom Israel convinced to migrate to Paraguay in exchange for plane tickets and several hundred dollars.

During that period, agents from Israel’s foreign intelligence agency (Mossad) and internal security agency (Shin Bet) were active throughout the Gaza Strip, encouraging its residents to emigrate in exchange for financial incentives. Some, like Al-Damasi and Kassab, were promised plots of agricultural land to earn a living.

Israel’s Secret Gaza Migration Scheme

In a detailed report by veteran Israeli journalist Nadav Shragai, Israel Hayom stated that the assassination of the embassy secretary revealed, for the first time, the secret mechanism used by the Israeli government to encourage migration from Gaza after the Six-Day War in 1967 in exchange for economic benefits. This system was established during the tenure of Prime Minister Levi Eshkol.

This mechanism was led by Ada Sereni, the wife of Zionist Enzo Sereni, a key figure in Aliyah Bet—a codename for the illegal migration of Jews, many of whom were refugees fleeing Nazi Germany or other Nazi-controlled territories, and later Holocaust survivors, to Mandatory Palestine between 1920 and 1948.

The mechanism managed to deport approximately 50,000 Gazans out of a total population of 400,000 at the time.

Although Israel had denied the existence of this mechanism for years, research conducted by Professor Yoav Gelber—an expert on Israel’s founding war and the Palestinian refugee issue—and other researchers uncovered the major secret that censorship had prevented from being published for decades.

The newspaper claims that the Israeli government’s activities were not limited to encouraging voluntary migration from Gaza after the Six-Day War and in the early years of the state’s establishment. Even during the war that Israel called Operation Iron Swords in response to Hamas’ attack on October 7, 2023, similar efforts continued.

According to Shragai’s report, Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu planted the idea of voluntary Palestinian displacement in the mind of Donald Trump in a meeting with him months before he assumed the U.S. presidency.

Secret Meetings

In late December 2023—two and a half months after the war began—Netanyahu stated in a closed meeting of the Likud bloc that he was working to facilitate the deportation of Gaza residents to other countries, despite acknowledging the difficulty of finding willing nations.

Shragai revealed that former Foreign Minister Eli Cohen had established teams that negotiated with the governments of Rwanda and Congo to accept displaced Gazans. Netanyahu was reportedly briefed on all developments.

The so-called “voluntary migration initiative” was adopted at the time by Knesset members Ram Ben Barak from the Yesh Atid party and Danny Danon from the Likud coalition, who now serves as Israel’s ambassador to the UN.

On October 13, 2023—about a week after Hamas’ attack—Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel submitted a written proposal to Netanyahu for the “evacuation of non-combatant residents from combat zones” and the facilitation of “voluntary humanitarian evacuation” outside the Gaza Strip.

The newspaper provided some details of the proposal, which in its initial phase involved setting up tent cities southwest of Gaza in the Sinai Peninsula. Later, a humanitarian corridor would be established to that area, ultimately leading to the construction of several cities in northern Sinai for the displaced.

At the same time, according to Shragai’s report, Israel would prepare a sterilized area three kilometers wide inside Egypt to prevent displaced individuals from returning to Gaza. Gamliel suggested contacting several countries to see if they would be willing to receive migrants from Gaza, including Spain, Greece, Canada, and Congo.

Gaza Airport Plan

Amid these maneuvers, Israel was also studying plans to establish an airport near Gaza, from which planes would transport Gazans to their new destinations, including various African countries, as well as Egypt, Jordan, and Qatar.

Israel Hayom confirmed that the security cabinet and Shin Bet had formally submitted documents on the matter, but these plans and subsequent ones collapsed due to the refusal of Arab countries to cooperate. This included Egypt and Jordan after rounds of talks, and Qatar, which “withdrew from the idea after several rounds of meetings.”

The newspaper also criticized the position of former U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration, suggesting that had it supported the idea of displacement—even covertly—something might have been achieved despite all obstacles.

When details of Gamliel’s plans were leaked, Biden personally called Netanyahu requesting further clarification. Netanyahu responded that it was a personal initiative by the minister and did not represent government policy.

The newspaper claimed that unofficial data from the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center and other sources indicated that nearly 300,000 Gaza residents “migrated” from the Strip between June 2007 and the outbreak of the war in October 2023, attributing their migration to “economic conditions and lack of hope for the future.”

Will the U.S. Back a Displacement Plan?

Shragai posed a key question in his report: Will the backing of the world’s most powerful nation lead to the implementation of an “organized” plan for voluntary displacement from Gaza, which Israel is now working on in coordination with the Americans?

Slim or Nonexistent Chances

The veteran journalist argued that if Professor Gelber—who has conducted extensive research on migration, deportation, and voluntary or forced population movements—were asked about the likelihood of voluntary displacement being successfully implemented in Gaza, he would affirm that the chances are “slim or nonexistent.”

The right-wing Israeli newspaper claims that legal experts—such as Professor Avi Bell—”believe” that international law does not prohibit a state from encouraging “voluntary migration” and does not classify it as expulsion.

It also notes that Trump’s administration now relies on such legal interpretations and intends to use them when its plans regarding Gaza’s population become operational.

History of Displacement Plans

Israel Hayom extensively reviewed historical examples of Jewish plans to displace Palestinians, known as transfer—a series of operations and measures carried out by Zionist armed groups and successive Israeli governments to expel as many non-Jewish residents as possible from lands they sought to annex or had already annexed, with the goal of maintaining the Jewish character of the state.

The report concluded that instead of debating whether forced or voluntary displacement is ethical, the real question now is: Is it a practical and realistic measure, or merely a pipe dream?

The newspaper described the Palestinians’ insistence on returning to their homes and their strong opposition to migration abroad as two sides of the same coin. It argued that they reject the idea of transfer not only because they have not lost hope in returning but also to avoid experiencing a new Nakba that would haunt them for generations—this time backed by the world’s greatest superpower, replacing the 1948 Nakba, which remains a symbol of Palestinian identity and narrative.