Palestinian Authority warns of pro-Israeli networks taking Gazans out of the Strip after South Africa debacle – Firstpost

The Palestinian Authority’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday warned Palestinians living in Gaza to beware of networks that seek to expel them from their homes. The warning was issued a day after 153 Palestinians who left Gaza arrived in South Africa without knowing their final destination and without proper paperwork.

They were on a flight from Kenya and were held for 12 hours on Friday by South African authorities as they tried to figure out how they got into the country. The mysterious arrival came at a time when South Africa was pursuing a genocide case against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

While the case continues to be investigated, South African authorities are granting 90-day visas to stranded Palestinians. In light of this, the Palestinian ministry on Saturday expressed its “deep appreciation” for the support of the South African authorities and people. The Palestinian Embassy in Pretoria said it was working to assist travelers who “have endured more than two years of Israeli genocidal war, killing, displacement and destruction”.

However, the Foreign Ministry warned that companies, informal institutions and unregistered intermediaries inside the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory are trying to mislead Palestinians and incite them to leave their homeland. “The ministry calls on our people, especially our people in the Gaza Strip, to exercise caution and not become victims of human trafficking, blood traders and companies, and agents of displacement,” it said.

Questions on how Palestinians reached South Africa

Questions are being raised over the suspicious organization that planned the mysterious trip – Al-Majd Europe. according to a Al Jazeera According to the report, the unit does not have an office in its declared headquarters in Sheikh Jarrah-held East Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, South Africa’s border management authority said 130 Palestinians entered the country, while 23 were transferred from the airport to other destinations in South Africa. Most of these travelers are expected to apply for asylum in the country, officials said.

Gift of the Givers, a South African humanitarian aid organisation, said it was committed to accommodating the visitors during their stay. Speaking to the country’s public broadcaster SABC, the charity’s founder Imtiaz Suleiman said the first plane carrying 176 Palestinians landed in Johannesburg on October 28, with some passengers departing for other countries.

He said details of Palestinian arrivals indicate Israel is evacuating people from Gaza and putting them on planes without stamping their passports. Due to lack of paperwork they get stuck in third countries.

How is Israel dealing with this matter?

The Israeli Foreign Ministry and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office have not commented on the incident, but Israel and the United States have repeatedly pressed for the evacuation of as many Palestinians as possible from Gaza. With this ambition in mind, both countries are in talks with several countries in the region to accommodate the Palestinian population.

Meanwhile, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli military organization in charge of the Gaza border crossing, was quoted by Israeli media as saying it had received approval from a third country to receive Palestinians as part of the Israeli government’s policy of allowing Gaza residents to leave. However, the statement did not name the third country.

while talking to al Jazeera, Antony Lowenstein, author of The Palestine Laboratory, a book about Israel’s weapons and surveillance industry, said the transit plan would have been operating under the international radar for weeks or months.

He said there are rumors that companies are making such flights, which apparently “require Israel’s permission as well as the permission of other countries”. “This is a concept of people making money out of other people’s misery,” he said, pointing to the dubious operations and website of the company running the scheme.

“I see it as a form of ethnic cleansing,” Lowenstein explained. Al Jazeera“The issue is that people are providing [the transit] And the Israeli state is facilitating this, a state where many ministers of the Israeli government and frankly the Israeli public want there to be no Palestinians left in Gaza, and I’m afraid this is part of that mission.

Amid the chaos, Jordan’s King Abdullah and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif both vowed “zero-tolerance” for any displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. The comments by the two leaders came as Sharif hosted King Abdullah in Islamabad on a two-day state visit.