Settlement leaders call for clearing Palestinian refugee camps in West Bank ‘as we have done in Gaza’

Senior settlement leaders call on the security cabinet to evacuate residents of Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank and what they describe as other centers of Palestinian terrorism, in order to tackle Palestinian armed groups “exactly as we have done in the Gaza Strip,” including through widespread demolition of structures in such places.

In a letter to the security cabinet, Yisrael Ganz, head of the Yesha Council umbrella settlement organization, together with 14 mayors of settlement authorities and regional councils, also calls for restricting Palestinian freedom of movement on main roads in the West Bank for security purposes.

In their letter, the settlement leaders allege that as a result of Iranian efforts, lethal terror attacks in the West Bank have spiked, and recommend that tough action be taken.

“The population living in zones identified with terrorism, with a focus on ‘refugee’ camps and known terror complexes, should be moved,” they write. “After moving the population the terrorism infrastructure should be dismantled exactly as we have done in the Gaza Strip, meaning: any criminal house to be destroyed, every terrorist to be taken out.”

Israel has been accused of the forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza due to the massive destruction of civilian infrastructure and Israel’s refusal thus far to allow the overwhelming majority of the Gaza population who have been evacuated from their homes to return to the cities they came from.

Far-right Israeli politicians including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who are strongly aligned with the West Bank settlement movement, have also called for implementing policies designed to “encourage” Palestinian emigration from Gaza.

In their letter, the settlement leaders also call on the security cabinet to restrict Palestinian freedom of movement on roads in the West Bank “in a way that will make it harder for terrorists and weapons to move about Judea and Samaria,” and said that such measures should include shutting down security checkpoints.