The US and Israel have been making contacts with African states to discuss the potential resettlement of Palestinians from Gaza to their territories, according to an AP report released on 14 March.
The US–Israeli contacts with Sudan, Somalia, and Somaliland aim “to discuss using their territories as potential destinations for resettling Palestinians,” US and Israeli officials told AP.
“Separate outreach from the US and Israel to the three potential destinations began last month, days after [US President Donald] Trump floated the Gaza plan alongside [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu,” US officials said, adding that Israel is “taking the lead in the discussions.”
It is “unclear how much progress the efforts made or at what level the discussions took place,” according to the report. The talks are supposed to be “secret.”
Sudanese officials told AP that they have rejected US proposals for such a plan. Officials from Somalia and Somaliland said they were not aware of the discussions. Sudan was part of the 2020 Abraham Accords, which saw several Arab states, including the UAE, normalize ties with Israel.
Last month, Trump announced his controversial plan to transform Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East.” The president said his plan would involve the US taking ownership of Gaza and expelling the entirety of its population to bring in international development teams and begin work on reconstruction.
He claimed the expulsion of Palestinians would be to move them to a safer location, but later confirmed that his plan does not include their right to return to their land.
In late February, Trump backpedaled from his position, saying he does not wish to impose the plan by force but will recommend it. “We are not expelling anyone from the Gaza Strip,” he told reporters ahead of his meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin on 12 March.
Despite this, a US official said in early February that Trump “stands by his vision,” rejecting a proposal put forward by Egypt for a reconstruction and post-war solution plan for Gaza that does not involve any further displacement of its population.
Arab states have rejected Trump’s plan and have officially endorsed the Egyptian initiative. Israel, on the other hand, has praised what many see as an attempt to ethnically cleanse Gaza.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on 9 March that the government would establish a “migration administration” to facilitate the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes and lands in the Gaza Strip.
“We are establishing a migration administration, we are preparing for this under the leadership of the Prime Minister and Defense Minister [Israel Katz],” Smotrich said at the Knesset. “The budget will not be an obstacle,” he added. The new “migration administration” would be under the Israeli Ministry of Defense, with the goal of expelling all Palestinians as quickly as logistics allow.
“If we remove 5,000 a day, it will take a year,” Smotrich said. “This is a huge logistical operation – not just the bus that takes them, we need to know who is going, to which country, what ages, vocational training, a huge operation, we are preparing.”
Smotrich claimed that “sources in the American government” agreed “that it’s impossible for two million people with hatred towards Israel to remain at a stone’s throw from the border.”
The AP report was not the first to reveal potential plans to expel Palestinians to Africa.
According to a report from Israel’s Channel 12 last month, Morocco, the Puntland State of Somalia, and the Republic of Somaliland are being considered as places to relocate Palestinians as part of Trump’s controversial plan.
Puntland and Somaliland seek international recognition of their sovereignty over Somali territory, while Morocco seeks recognition of its sovereignty over the occupied Western Sahara.
The report said Trump’s government may use this to push forward his proposal for Gaza.
