THE odious idea of a camp within a camp. The Gaza Strip, with an even greater concentration of Palestinian civilian life within an ever-shrinking stretch of territory. These are the proposals ventured by the Israeli government even as the official Palestinian death toll marches upwards to 60,000. They envisage the placement of some 600,000 displaced and houseless beings currently living in tents in the area of al-Mawasi along Gaza鈥檚 southern coast in a creepily termed 鈥榟umanitarian city鈥�. This would be the prelude for an ultimate relocation of the strip鈥檚 entire population of over two million in an area that will become an even smaller prison than the Strip already is.
The preparation for such a forced removal 鈥� yet another among so many Israel has inflicted upon the Palestinians 鈥� is in full swing. The analysis of satellite imagery from the United Nations Satellite Centre by Al Jazeera鈥檚 Sanad investigations unit found that approximately 12,800 buildings were demolished in Rafah between early April and early July alone. In the Knesset on May 11 this year, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave words to those deeds: 鈥榃e are demolishing more and more [of their] homes, they have nowhere to return to. The only obvious result will be the desire of the Gazans to emigrate outside the Strip.鈥�
Camps of concentrated human life 鈥� concentration camps, in other words 鈥� are often given a different dressing to what they are meant to be. Authoritarian states enjoy using them to re-educate and reform the inmates even as they gradually kill them. Indeed, the proposals from the Israel鈥檚 defence department carry with them plans for a 鈥楬umanitarian Transit Area鈥� where Gazans would 鈥榯emporarily reside, deradicalize, re-integrate, and prepare to relocate if they wish to do so鈥�.
The emetic candy floss of 鈥榟umanitarian鈥� in the context of a camp is a self-negating nonsense similar to other experiments in cruelty: the relocation of Boer civilians during the colonial wars waged by Britain to camps which saw dysentery and starvation; the movement of Vietnamese villagers into fortified hamlets to prevent their infiltration by the Vietcong in the 1960s; the creation of Pacific concentration camps to detain refugees seeking Australia by boat in what came to be called the 鈥楶acific Solution鈥�.
Those in the business of doing humanitarian deeds were understandably appalled by Israel鈥檚 latest plans. Philippe Lazzarini, head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, stated that this would 鈥榙e facto create massive concentration camps at the border with Egypt for the Palestinians, displaced over and over across generations鈥�. It would certainly 鈥榙eprive Palestinians of any prospects of a better future in their homeland.鈥� Self-evidently and sadly, that would be one of the main aims.
A few of Israeli鈥檚 former prime ministers have ditched the coloured goggles in considering the plans for such a mislabelled city. Yair Lapid, who spent a mere six months in office in 2022, told Israeli Army Radio that it was 鈥榓 bad idea from every possible perspective 鈥� security, political, economic, logistical鈥�. While preferring not to use the term 鈥榗oncentration camp鈥� with regards such a construction, incarcerating individuals by effectively preventing their exit would make such a term appropriate.
Ehud Olmert鈥檚 words to The Guardian were even less inclined to varnish the matter. 鈥業f they [the Palestinians] will be deported into the new 鈥渉umanitarian city鈥�, then you can say that this is part of an ethnic cleansing鈥�. To create a camp that would effectively 鈥榗lean鈥� more than half of Gaza of its population could hardly be understood as a plan to save Palestinians. 鈥業t is to deport them, to push and to throw them away. There is no other understanding that I have at least.鈥�
Israeli political commentator Ori Goldberg was also full of candour in expressing the view that the plan was 鈥榝or all facts and purposes a concentration camp鈥� for Gaza鈥檚 Palestinians, 鈥榓n overt crime against humanity under international humanitarian law鈥�. This would also add the burgeoning grounds of illegality already being alleged in this month鈥檚 petition by three Israeli reserve soldiers of Israel鈥檚 Supreme Court questioning the legality of Operation Gideon鈥檚 Chariots. Instancing abundant examples of forced transfer and expulsions of the Palestinian population during its various phases, commentators such as former chief of staff of the IDF, Moshe 鈥楤ogy鈥� Ya鈥檃lon, are unreserved about how such programs fare before international law. 鈥楨vacuating an entire population? Call it ethnic cleansing, call it transfer, call it deportation, it鈥檚 a war crime,鈥� he told journalist Lucy Aharish. Israel鈥檚 soldiers had been sent in 鈥榯o commit war crimes.鈥�
There is also some resistance from within the IDF, less on humanitarian grounds than practical ones. To even prepare such a plan in the midst of negotiations for a lasting ceasefire and finally resolving the hostage situation was the first telling problem. The other was how the IDF could feasibly undertake what would be a grand jailing experiment while preventing the infiltration of Hamas.
This ghastly push by the Netanyahu government involves an enormous amount of wishful thinking. Ideally, the Palestinians will simply leave. If not, they will live in even more carceral conditions than they faced before October 2023. But to assume that this cartoon strip humanitarianism, papered over a ghoulish program of inflicted suffering, will add to the emptying well of Israeli security, is testament to how utterly desperate, and delusionary, the Israeli PM and his cabinet members have become.
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CounterPunch.org, July 21. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne.