Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich advocates encouraging Palestinian emigration from Gaza and the West Bank, drawing international condemnation.
JERUSALEM: Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has announced a policy to encourage Palestinian emigration from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Speaking at a party event, Smotrich stated the goal was to eliminate the concept of a Palestinian state and formally nullify the Oslo Accords.
“We will finally, formally, and in practical terms nullify the cursed Oslo Accords and embark on a path toward sovereignty, while encouraging emigration from both Gaza and Judea and Samaria,” he said.
He asserted that “there is no other long-term solution” beyond this path of encouraging migration and asserting Israeli sovereignty.
The statement follows recent security cabinet approvals of measures to tighten Israeli control over the West Bank.
These measures, backed by far-right ministers, apply even in areas nominally administered by the Palestinian Authority under the Oslo Accords.
On Tuesday, the United Nations missions of 85 countries jointly condemned these Israeli measures.
Critics argue the policies amount to a de facto annexation of the Palestinian territory.
