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| Hamas issues worldwide 'call to arms' to fight Trump's plan to relocate two million Gazans | |
| 2025-04-01 | |
'In the face of this sinister plan - one that combines massacres with starvation - anyone who can bear arms, anywhere in the world, must take action,' Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement on Monday. 'Do not withhold an explosive, a bullet, a knife, or a stone. Let everyone break their silence.' Abu Zuhri's call comes a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered to let Hamas leaders leave Gaza but demanded that the Palestinian group disarm in the final stages of the war in Gaza. Netanyahu said Israel was working towards a plan proposed by Trump to displace Gazans to other countries, which could include Egypt and Jordan. Netanyahu said that after the war, Israel would ensure overall security in Gaza and 'enable the implementation of the Trump plan' - which had initially called for the mass displacement of all 2.4 million people living in the Palestinian territory - calling it a 'voluntary migration plan'. Trump's plan for the region risks inflaming deep underlying tensions, and has been met with fury from Palestinians and American allies alike. The UN has warned it was tantamount to 'ethnic cleansing'. But the call from Hamas comes at an uncertain time, with thousands of Gazans defying fear of reprisal to march against the group in anti-war demonstrations. One protestor was this week alleged to have been kidnapped, tortured and left at his family's doorstep as a warning. Days after taking office in January, Trump had proposed that Gazans be removed from the territory with no right of return. He later appeared to backtrack, saying he was 'not forcing' the widely condemned plan for the United States to take over the territory and redevelop it. Trump said that the U.S. should take control of Gaza to ensure its stability, and suggested the population could be relocated elsewhere, where he said they would be 'better off'. 'The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the US by Israel at the conclusion of fighting' he said. On February 9, the American president said he was 'committed to buying and owning Gaza'. Two days later, he told a news conference with Jordan's King Abdullah II: 'We're not going to buy anything.' 'We're going to have it and we're going to keep it and we're going to make sure that there's going to be peace and there's not going to be any problem.' An AI-generated clip of 'Trump Gaza', redeveloped into the 'Riviera of the Middle East', was then posted to his Truth Social social media platform, met with horror. The video showed high-rises and beachside resorts, with a giant gold statue of Trump towering over the enclave. Trump and Netanyahu featured in the AI video, drinking by a pool. The clip was widely condemned as being 'tone deaf'. Palestinians in Gaza argued the proposal ignores their rights and ties to their ancestral land. The right of return remains a sensitive issue for Palestinian diaspora displaced by the long conflict with Israel. About 750,000 Palestinians fled or were forced from their homes on land which became Israel after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. As many as 531 Palestinian towns were razed by Israeli militias by 1949, according to the West Bank-based Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, and thousands were killed in clashes. Many refugees today remain in camps in neighbouring countries, unable to return to the places they were born. Outrage at the loss of life in Gaza since Hamas launched its shock October 7, 2023 incursion into Israel saw a rise in support for the group among Palestinians, reflecting anathema towards Israeli policy and lack of progress towards a lasting solution. This was in spite of the 1,170 lives taken during the massacre, and some 250 hostages taken back into Gaza. A group of independent human rights experts warned earlier this month that Israel had resumed weaponising starvation in Gaza with the decision to break from the fragile ceasefire agreement and block aid into the Palestinian enclave. More than 400 Palestinians were killed as Israel resumed its bombardment of the strip on March 18. More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict since October 2023, the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza reports. Israel warned its attacks were 'only the beginning'. Earlier this month, defence minister Israel Katz also threatened to permanently occupy parts of the Gaza Strip unless Hamas releases the hostages still held in captivity. Since coming to power, Hamas has done little to move towards a lasting solution with Israel, launching attacks across the border that rights groups say have killed civilians and even landed back in Gaza. 'The unpredictable nature of the crude rockets has meant that rockets have struck areas not only inside Israel but also inside Gaza,' Human Rights Watch observed in 2009. The group has also done little to alleviate poverty in the Gaza Strip, despite receiving plenty of money from foreign backers. In 2023, it was estimated to have an investment portfolio of real estate and other assets worth $500mn and an annual military budget of $350mn. But Gaza remains one of the poorest places in the world. In 2023, the GDP per capita for the West Bank and Gaza sat at just $3,372.3 USD. In recent days, Palestinians have expressed their ire towards the governing group with mass protests in the beleaguered enclave. Thousands took to the streets in northern Gaza last weeks for days of anti-war protests, many chanting against Hamas. The protests, which centered mainly on Gaza's north, appeared to be aimed generally against the war, with protesters calling for an end to 17 months of deadly fighting. In the town of Beit Lahiya, where a similar protest took place Tuesday, about 3,000 people demonstrated, with many chanting 'the people want the fall of Hamas.' In the hard-hit Shijaiyah neighborhood of Gaza City, dozens of men chanted 'Out, out out! Hamas get out!' 'Our children have been killed. Our houses have been destroyed,' said Abed Radwan, who said he joined the protest in Beit Lahiya 'against the war, against Hamas, and the (Palestinian political) factions, against Israel and against the world's silence.' Ammar Hassan, who gave his name after taking part in a protest on Tuesday, said it started as an anti-war protest with a few dozen people but swelled to more than 2,000, with people chanting against Hamas. 'It's the only party we can affect,' he said by phone. 'Protests won't stop the (Israeli) occupation, but it can affect Hamas.' The militant group has violently cracked down on previous protests. This time no outright intervention was apparent, perhaps because Hamas is keeping a lower profile since Israel resumed its war against it. Hamas was then accused of torturing a Palestinian protestor to death and leaving him on his family's doorstep as a warning. Uday al-Rabbay was reportedly kidnapped by the terror group amid the swell of anti-Hamas actions taken by the people of the Gaza Strip, who have in the last week been seen begging the organisation to give up control. Mazen Shat, a senior police officer affiliated with Fatah from Ramallah and a vocal critic of Hamas, told The Telegraph Uday had been tortured for four hours, and was left with open wounds and bruising. 'Uday was martyred by the criminals of Hamas. And what's his crime? He told the truth, because he refused to be silent on injustice, because he did not kneel to Hamas. 'Hamas is oppressing people in a brutal way. Like a puppy on a rope around his neck, they dragged him to the door of his house and told his family that this is the punishment for those who complain about Hamas.' Related: Sami Abu Zuhri 03/05/2025 Aiming to stymie Trump’s ‘Riviera’ vision, Arab leaders endorse $53 billion Gaza plan Sami Abu Zuhri 03/04/2025 Egypt’s alternative to Trump plan sidelines Hamas, leaves key questions unanswered Sami Abu Zuhri 02/12/2025 Netanyahu: ‘Intense fighting’ to resume in Gaza if hostages not released by Saturday | |
| Posted by:Skidmark |
| #2 I did wonder… |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2025-04-01 15:09 |
| #1 I see this as HAMAS has declared WAR on the USA. It and it's sponsors like Iran, US & EU NGO's and those protesting in support of it Terrorism, are now in as much as ENEMY COMBATANTS of the USA. Unless they immediately Publicly declare they No Longer Support HAMAS. |
| Posted by: NN2N1 2025-04-01 15:02 |