Israel Prepares for Potential Ethnic Cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza | Palestine Policy Roundup 05.12.25
Welcome to the Palestine Policy Roundup, a weekly publication of the IMEU Policy Project.
👀 ICYMI: MEMBERS OF CONGRESS SPEAK OUT
Rep. Greg Casar, responding to attacks on support for Palestinian rights during the May 7 House Education and Workforce committee hearing: “Antisemitism is an assault on all of our values. So why would Republicans cut funding to address hate crimes or protect synagogues? Republicans are not trying to keep Jewish students safe. They're trying to keep the Israeli government safe from any form of criticism.”
Rep. Rashida Tlaib: “There is no denying that the Israeli apartheid regime is using starvation as a weapon of war. They proudly admit to these war crimes. Our country is an accomplice in this genocide, and the world is letting it happen. Don't stop demanding accountability. Arms embargo now.”
Sen. Chris Van Hollen: “For 66 days the Netanyahu govt has blocked ALL food & aid from going into Gaza. Now we're told it plans to seize & reoccupy huge parts of Gaza, as it pushes for Trump's plan to force 2M Palestinians to leave. That would be ethnic cleansing by another name. We can’t stand for it.”
Rep. Delia Ramirez: “Netanyahu has proven over and over again that his endgame is not peace. He plans to seize Gaza. And he won't stop until he has robbed Palestinians of their sovereignty. The only way to stop Netanyahu's deadly campaign to ‘capture’ Palestine is with an arms embargo. Not one more bomb, not more one cent, not one more excuse.”
Rep. Ayanna Pressley on formerly detained PhD student Rümeysa Öztürk : “Rümeysa’s experience was not just an act of cruelty. Was a deliberate, coordinated attempt to intimidate, to instill fear, and to send a chilling message to anyone who dares to speak out against injustice…Today, we’re sending a message of our own to this White House: your efforts to silence Rümeysa, to crush dissent, to undermine our fundamental rights are being rejected.”
DC DEVELOPMENTS
❌ OFFICE OF PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS EFFECTIVELY CLOSED, TO BE OVERSEEN BY US EMBASSY IN JERUSALEM
The State Department announced last Tuesday that it will be effectively closing the Office of Palestinian Affairs and putting it under the control of the US embassy in Jerusalem–placing its portfolio under the control of Mike Huckabee, the anti-Palestinian US Ambassador to Israel. This is a downgrading of US engagement with Palestinians and is the latest anti-Palestinian action taken by the Trump administration.
The Office of Palestinian Affairs was an independent diplomatic conduit between Palestinians and the State Department that was not subject to oversight by US officials involved in relations with Israel, making it an important venue for the US-Palestinian bilateral diplomatic relationship.
Now, putting the office under the purview of Mike Huckabee, despite his record of anti-Palestinian racism, serves to once again reinforce Israel’s denial of Palestinian self-determination by subsuming the US-Palestinian diplomatic relationship as a component of US-Israeli diplomacy. Huckabee, who supports Israel’s illegal settlements in the West Bank, will now exercise oversight and control of diplomacy between Palestinians and the US.
The office was established by President Joe Biden in 2022 following the moving of the US embassy to Jerusalem by the first Trump administration in 2018. The establishment of the office did not go far enough to rectify the anti-Palestinian action of moving the embassy in the first place and the US failed to reopen the consulate in Jerusalem despite President Biden’s pledge to do so.
Before the embassy was moved, Washington’s relations with Palestininians were handled by the US consulate in Jerusalem but the Trump administration transferred its portfolio into a unit of the embassy when it closed the consulate in 2019. The US Consulate in Jerusalem existed as an independent diplomatic conduit between the US and the Palestinian people for more than 100 years before the establishment of Israel.
📖 LEARN MORE: Check out a policy analysis from our affiliated organization the IMEU that was published in 2021 outlining the importance of an independent diplomatic conduit between the US and Palestinians living under Israel’s occupation.
🔎 SENATORS REQUEST REPORT ON US COMPLIANCE WITH WEAPONS TRANSFER LAWS
Last Tuesday, a half dozen Senators led by Sen. Chris Van Hollen sent a letter to US Comptroller General Gene Dodaro requesting a Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation into the federal government’s compliance with Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act and the Leahy Law. Those laws condition US weapons transfers on the delivery of humanitarian aid and respect for human rights.
The letter was sent in response to a GAO report that found that the State Department is failing to address potential human rights abuses committed by countries that receive weapons from the US. Under the aforementioned laws, weapons shipments would be restricted in response to the obstruction of US-provided humanitarian aid or gross violations of human rights.
While this letter also highlights potential violations of the Leahy Law and Section 620I by countries other than Israel, it correctly points out some of the instances in which Israel was not held accountable. During Israel’s genocide in Gaza, the Biden administration notoriously failed to apply these laws to Israel and end weapons shipments.
In December 2024, State Department officials falsely announced that Israel was not violating Section 620I despite its then-ongoing siege and blockade of northern Gaza and clear obstruction of aid to the area.
This announcement came two months after Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin sent a letter to Israeli officials warning them about their noncompliance with the law–though such a determination should have immediately halted weapons to Israel. Additionally, at least two government bodies concluded that Israel was obstructing aid to Gaza in April 2024.
Additionally, the Biden administration repeatedly gave Israel special treatment and refused to apply the Leahy Law to Israel. Even after finding that allegations of gross violations of human rights against Israeli units were credible, Secretary of State Antony Blinken continued US transfers of weapons and funding to the units despite a lack of adequate remediation.
As Israel continues its blockade of Gaza and potentially prepares to implement its longstanding plans for the forcible transfer of Palestinians from Gaza, this letter lays the groundwork for a much needed reckoning with US noncompliance with these laws. Members of Congress should also exercise their authority over weapons transfers and block weapons shipments to Israel in order to comply with these laws.
IN THE NEWS
🖥️ IMEU POLICY PROJECT TO HOST WEBINAR FEATURING REP. RASHIDA TLAIB ON HER UPCOMING NAKBA RESOLUTION
IMEU Policy Project will host a webinar this Thursday, May 15 at 11 AM, in commemoration of the ongoing Palestinian Nakba (“catastrophe” in English, referring to Israel’s ongoing dispossession of Palestinians from their homeland) and to announce the reintroduction of Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s historic resolution to end US complicity in Israel’s crimes against Palestinians. The webinar will also feature historians of the Nakba–Professor Maha Nassar and Professor Ilan Pappe–who will discuss the ongoing nature of the Nakba.
✅ REGISTER: Register for the webinar here.
📣 TAKE ACTION: Write your Representative and ask them to cosponsor this important resolution.
⛓️ RÜMEYSA ÖZTÜRK RELEASED FROM UNCONSTITUTIONAL DETENTION FOLLOWING ORDER BY FEDERAL JUDGE
Rümeysa Öztürk, the Tufts University student who was unconstitutionally detained by the Trump administration because of her support for Palestinian rights, was released from ICE detention and returned to her home state of Massachusetts last Friday. A Vermont federal judge ordered her release as her habeas petition proceeds in federal court.
This is an important legal victory that highlights the unconstitutional nature of the Trump administration’s crackdown on foreign students who speak out in support of Palestinian rights. Öztürk is now at least the second student who was targeted by the Trump administration to be released, following the release of Palestinian student-activist Mohsen Mahdawi nearly two weeks ago.
Federal judge William Sessions III correctly highlighted that the Trump administration’s efforts to target Öztürk could chill the speech of noncitizens in the US. He also said the federal government’s effort to keep her detained had no basis and noted that the only evidence the federal government had submitted was an op-ed she wrote in support of divestment for Palestinian rights in a Tufts University student newspaper.
The Washington Post revealed a Department of Homeland security memo last month that confirmed that Öztürk’s op-ed was the sole evidence that the federal government used to revoke her status and detain her. Öztürk’s abduction by ICE agents was a clear attempt by the Trump administration to chill her speech and that of others.
While this is a significant legal victory, the fight against the Trump administration’s crackdown on support for Palestinian rights is not over. Öztürk’s immigration case over the federal government’s authority to deport her will still proceed, and her challenge to her detention by ICE in federal court is not yet over.
Additionally, former Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil continues to be unconstitutionally detained in Louisiana more than two months after he was abducted by ICE agents in New York City.
Members of Congress must continue to speak out against the Trump administration’s crackdown on speech in support of Palestinian rights.
PALESTINE/ISRAEL DEVELOPMENTS
🚨 ISRAEL PREPARES TO POTENTIALLY CARRY OUT ETHNIC CLEANSING OF PALESTINIANS AND ENACT ENDURING MILITARY OCCUPATION OF GAZA FROM WITHIN
Last Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a plan to implement Israel’s long-standing and well-documented aims to permanently militarily occupy Gaza from within and forcibly transfer Palestinians from the territory.
Last Sunday, the Israeli security cabinet approved a plan to seize all of Gaza and to permanently control it through violent military rule.The plan calls for the Israeli military to destroy all infrastructure, essentially flattening Gaza, and to concentrate all 2 million people into a single humanitarian area.
Nearly all Palestinians would be displaced from all across Gaza, concentrating them in the south of the territory near the border with Egypt–sparking concerns that this maneuver is a prelude to the expulsion of Palestinians, a plan supported by President Trump.
This plan would very clearly violate both international law and US law. The forcible transfer of Palestinians from anywhere in Gaza and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians to Egypt or another country would constitute war crimes, and would likely be committed using weapons provided by the US.
Netanyahu gave a deadline–the end of President Trump’s Middle East trip–for implementing this plan, meaning that the potential start date of this newest crime could be May 15, the day Palestinians commemorate the 1948 Nakba.
Speaking about the plan last week, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich made it even clearer that this plan is meant to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Gaza, vowing that Gaza would be destroyed and that Palestinians would leave to other countries.
Reportedly, Israel would establish compounds where aid would be distributed by private US security companies and an international foundation–meaning that Palestinians would be forced to move or starve. This could supercharge the forcible transfer of Palestinians from elsewhere in Gaza and eventually outside of Gaza. Aid groups and United Nations officials have criticized this plan, calling it a weaponization of humanitarian aid and describing the compounds as “de facto internment conditions.”
In these compounds, Palestinians would be subject to facial recognition screening that would serve as a basis to deny some of them aid. This plan is disturbingly reminiscent of another drafted by Israeli-American businessman “Moti” Kahana that also involved the concentration of Palestinians into ghettos and the use of biometric screening to restrict aid.
These details are likely far more than just reports–the Israeli newspaper Haaretz obtained satellite imagery that reportedly shows that the Israeli military is preparing at least one of these compounds near Rafah in southern Gaza.
Members of Congress should not stand by as the threat of US complicity in this ethnic cleansing grows. Instead, members of Congress should exercise their oversight authority over weapons transfers and immediately halt all weapons to Israel in order to put a stop to US complicity in Israel’s plan.
Photo: tayifmukta, via Shutterstock. Stock Photo ID: 2582572161