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Ahead of Thursday's visit, Sukkot said "the renewal of settlement in Gaza is above all a matter of righting historical injustice."
By MATHILDA HELLER DECEMBER 16, 2024 21:12
Illustration: MKs Zvi Sukkot, Limor Son Har-Melech and Avichai Boaron in front of the Gaza border
(photo credit: AYAL MARGOLIN/FLASH90, Canva, Chaim Goldberg/Flash90, NOAM REVKIN FENTON/FLASH90, Oren Cohen/Flash90)
Likud MK Avichai Boaron put forward a bill to the Knesset on Monday, which would permit the freedom of presence and movement of Israelis throughout Gaza, Ynet revealed on Monday evening. This comes ahead of a planned tour of coalition MKs to the Gaza border with the aim of planning resettlement.
Boaron's bill states that "in the summer of 2005, the Israeli government decided to expel all Jewish residents from Gaza and northern West Bank and to withdraw militarily from the area."
"A part of this decision, the Knesset enacted a law to implement the Gaza disengagement, which defined, among other things, a ban on entry for Israelis."
"The ban on entry recalls dark periods in the history of the Jewish people."
The bill uses the October 7 massacres as evidence of how "giving in to antisemitism leads to more malicious actions."
"The war with Islamists in Gaza must end with its total loss of control over the land. Therefore, one of the first steps the Knesset should take is to erase the terrible stain of 'no-go zone for Jews' from the Israeli law."
"Full freedom of presence and movement should be allowed in Gaza," concluded Boaron.
Coalition tour of Gaza border
Coalition MKs Limor Son Har-Melech and Zvi Sukkot will conduct a tour of the Gaza border on Thursday to promote the resettlement of Jews in Gaza, Maariv reported on Monday.
MKs Har-Melech and Sukkot are co-chairs of the lobby for the renewal of settlements. They will conduct the tour alongside Daniela Weiss, the founder of the settler-activism movement Nachala.
The tour, which is to begin in Sderot, will be attended by other MKs, Maariv added.
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Despite calls from vocal right-wing figures and parties in the coalition, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stressed on more than one occasion that Israel has no plans to establish Israeli communities within the Gaza Strip.
In May 2024, after National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called for the construction of Israeli settlements in Gaza and the voluntary emigration of Palestinians from the area, Netanyahu said, “Resettling Gaza – that was never in the cards."
Ahead of Thursday's visit, Sukkot told Maariv that "the renewal of settlement in Gaza is above all a matter of righting historical injustice."
"The decisive and total victory over Hamas will only come after Gaza and the whole of the Middle East understand that those who slaughter us will ultimately lose land."
"On Thursday's tour, we will get as close as possible to Gaza and begin to plan the settlement there."
Har-Melech added, "Settlement in Gaza is the only thing that will restore true security to Israeli citizens."
"As chairmen of the lobby, we will use all the tools at our disposal to realize the vision of return and re-settlement in the place where the murderers of our people came from."
Following a tour to the Gaza border recently, Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf said that Jewish settlement in Gaza is the answer to the October 7 massacre and the answer to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
"Establishing a Jewish settlement here is also the answer to terrorism," he added.
A Maariv poll on December 6 found that a majority of the Israeli public does not support Jewish settlement in Gaza.
30% of respondents supported settlement, 48% opposed, and 22% had no opinion.
Support was higher among coalition voters than opposition voters.
The Israel Democracy Institute's poll revealed similar notions: in November 2024, 58.5% of the public opposed Jewish settlement in Gaza, and 36% supported it.
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