Seven Egyptian human rights organizations said that statements made by US President Donald Trump on 26 January 2025, in which he proposed the transfer of more than one million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to other countries, including Egypt and Jordan, are dangerous and contradict international laws. They said the statements are tantamount to incitement to ethnic cleansing and war crimes, and confirm the United States’ complicity in the Israeli crimes in Gaza.

Trump’s statements come more than 15 months after Israel launched its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, which has killed and injured tens of thousands of civilians, mostly women and children, and almost completely destroyed the Strip's infrastructure. Instead of focusing international efforts on the reconstruction of Gaza and providing urgent relief to the civilians suffering from hunger, displacement and the collapse of basic services, the US president calls for increasing their suffering by forcibly displacing them from their land and undermining the Palestinians' rights to self-determination and statehood, which are guaranteed by international conventions and multiple UN resolutions.

Some Israeli officials hastened to welcome Trump's remarks, revealing the desire of the current Israeli government, or at least a large component of this government, to continue the ethnic cleansing campaign and war crimes the Israeli military has been committing in Gaza for months.

The call for the displacement of Gazans runs counter to fundamental principles of international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, which prohibits the mass or individual forcible transfer of persons from their areas of residence except in exceptional cases and for their benefit. The proposal also contradicts the UN resolutions affirming the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes. UN resolutions have a firm position on the Palestinian issue, calling for a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders, while guaranteeing the rights of Palestinians to self-determination and the establishment of their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital. Resolutions of the UN General Assembly and the Security Council also stressed the illegality of any forced demographic changes in the occupied Palestinian territories, foremost of which is Resolution 194, which guarantees the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and to be compensated for the damages they have suffered.

The undersigned organizations said that any deportation of Gazans would not only be a continuation of the Israeli crimes that have been ongoing for 75 years, but also one of the biggest crimes of ethnic cleansing worldwide since World War II.

The displacement of Palestinians from Gaza will result in a large-scale humanitarian and human rights disaster, as it means uprooting hundreds of thousands of individuals, destroying their social and economic fabric, exposing them to harsh living conditions without guarantees of return, and forcing them to live in unstable conditions wherever they go. These plans will certainly have extremely dangerous repercussions on the future of peace in the entire region, as well as on international peace and security. The casual manner in which these statements are made by extremists in Israel or by Western leaders reflects not only an absence of morality and utter disregard for international laws, but also a deep ignorance of the history of this conflict, which is mainly caused by the longest-running settler occupation in modern times. And that is further driven by an apartheid regime, a criminal war machine, and an apathy towards the future of millions of people inside and outside the Middle East.

The undersigned rights organizations stress that Egypt's responsibility and historical role in the Arab-Israeli conflict and its current position that it has stated multiple times require the Egyptian authorities to ensure freedom of expression and solidarity with the Palestinian people. They emphasise the urgency of dropping all charges against activists who voiced solidarity with the Palestinian cause over the past months, and releasing those detained for the expression of their positions or for solidarity activities.

Over the past seven decades, Palestinians have been subjected to repeated forced displacements, from the 1948 Nakba that saw more than 750,000 Palestinians expelled from their land, to the 1967 displacement that forced hundreds of thousands to leave their homes, in addition to the ongoing forced displacement in the West Bank and Jerusalem. All of these waves of displacement took place under various pretexts, most notably that they would be "temporary". The reality, however, proved the exact opposite, as most Palestinian refugees have not been able to return to their homeland thus far.

The undersigned organizations stress the need for neighboring countries, especially Egypt, Jordan, as well as the rest of Arab states, to firmly square up to these criminal schemes. They call on all UN member states to take a decisive and firm position categorically rejecting Trump's statements and proposals that make a mockery of international laws, threaten stability in the region, and undermine the basic tenets of law and human rights. Those tenets which have already been eroded globally due to the double-standard applied by the United States and other major countries that supported the genocidal campaign against the Palestinians - militarily as well as diplomatically. The world has watched the impact of those double standards live on TV screens and on social media, and drew comparisons with the stated positions of those same countries against Russian war crimes in Ukraine. Therefore, if any such decisions were actually implemented, it would have serious implications on regional and international security and stability, as the world watches on the world’s most powerful country’s imposition of the law of the jungle with weapons and immoral blackmail, instead of protecting laws and rights. In this context, the undersigned organizations call on the Egyptian government to ensure urgent delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, and to start reconstruction efforts immediately to strengthen the steadfastness of the Palestinian people on their land. The organizations also stress the importance of exempting reconstruction materials from any possible fees or levies, ensuring an unhindered flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza. This will help build the resilience of the Palestinian people, support them in their recovery from the war and help reject forced displacement plans.

The repeated pattern of non-compliance of Israel and some Western governments that provide unconditional support to it with the promises and rights granted by international conventions granted to the Palestinians, whether with regard to the right of return or the cessation of violations against them, reflects a continuing policy of disregard and denial of the basic rights of the Palestinian people. This approach not only threatens the rights of those directly affected, but also contributes to undermining regional stability and reinforcing a general sense of impunity around the world.

Signatories:

1. Sinai Foundation for Human Rights

2. Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression

3. Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights

4. Nadeem Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence and Torture

5. Egyptian Front for Human Rights

6. Refugees Platform in Egypt 

7. EgyptWide for Human Rights