Gaza, 28 January 2025 – Al Mezan unequivocally rejects any proposal or notion of forcibly transferring the Palestinian population out of Gaza, emphasizing that such actions are not only illegal under international law but also represent a treacherous continuation of the historic and ongoing Nakba inflicted upon the Palestinian people.

This statement is issued in direct response to recent remarks by U.S. President Donald J. Trump, who suggested the forcible transfer of Palestinians from Gaza to neighboring Arab countries. He seemingly invoked the widespread destruction of Gaza—caused by 15 months of Israel’s genocide, largely carried out with American weapons and political backing—as a pretext. This proposal highlights the enduring complicity of successive U.S. administrations in supporting and enabling Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people, including policies of dispossession, forced displacement, and population transfer.

We note that similar proposals have been repeatedly advanced by current and former members of the Israeli government since at least October 2023, underscoring the settler-colonial nature at the core of the Gaza genocide. These plans seek to forcibly remove Palestinians from their homeland, erasing their physical presence to enable the re-settlement and colonization of Gaza by Israeli settlers. Unsurprisingly, many of these officials have welcomed President Trump’s remarks.

During Israel’s 15-month genocide in Gaza, over 90 percent of the population was forcibly displaced, many multiple times. Al Mezan reaffirms the right of all internally displaced persons (IDPs) who have been arbitrarily forced to flee their homes due to Israeli displacement orders and other acts of genocide to return to their habitual place of residence in safety and dignity. On 27 January 2025, after more than 470 days of forced displacement, the Israeli military announced that residents would be permitted to return on foot to northern Gaza.

The return of tens of thousands of internally displaced Palestinians to their habitual place of residence in the north of Gaza stands as the most powerful and unequivocal reaction to President Trump’s proposal. They are returning to the rubble of their destroyed homes, where many will set up makeshift tents while Gaza awaits reconstruction—a solemn testament to the enduring devastation inflicted by Israel upon Gaza and the unwavering determination of the Palestinian people to remain in their homeland. Their return reasserts their inalienable rights to their land as indigenous people, opposes the normalization of forced displacement and transfer, and demonstrates the steadfastness of the Palestinian people to remain rooted in their homeland despite Israel’s attempts to obliterate their presence. 

Al Mezan calls on the United States to immediately stop advancing or endorsing proposals for the forcible transfer of Palestinians from Gaza, as such actions would amount to the crime against humanity of deportation or forcible transfer. Al Mezan also welcomes the statements made by Jordan, Egypt, the Arab League, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which firmly reject any proposals or calls for the forcible transfer of Palestinians from Gaza.

Instead of advancing or supporting actions that blatantly breach international law, the international community must commit to its enforcement by ensuring the realization of the inalienable right of Palestinian refugees—who form over 70% of Gaza’s total population—to return to their ancestral homes and lands from which they were forcibly expelled in 1948 by Zionist militias and the Israeli military. This right is explicitly enshrined in the U.N. General Assembly Resolution 194—which calls for the return of refugees to their homes and the restitution of their property—and in other binding international legal instruments.

Addressing the root causes of Israel's genocide in Gaza is essential to rectifying decades of systemic injustice. One of the primary drivers of this atrocity is the more than seven decades of refugeehood endured by the Palestinian people, marked by the denial of their right of return, forced displacement, and dispossession. Al Mezan maintains that the persistent refusal to recognize and implement the right of return perpetuates the ongoing Nakba, exacerbates the suffering of the Palestinian people, and fundamentally undermines their pursuit of self-determination.