New Delhi: Citing examples from various conflict zones in Ukraine and Syria, Reuven Azar, the Ambassador of Israel to India, has backed US President Donald Trump’s proposal to relocate Gaza’s Palestinian population to neighbouring countries.
“There is an anomaly when it comes to Gaza. When you look at conflicts in the region and outside, you can see very clearly. For example, when the Russia-Ukraine war started, five million Ukrainians left Ukraine. When there was a civil war in Syria, eight million Syrians left Syria. So in any conflict zone, people are being allowed to go to refuge, to go to a quiet place until things are over, until the war is over, until things get through a construct and then they come back. The only place in the world in which it is not allowed apparently is the Gaza Strip,” Azar told IANS in an exclusive interview on Wednesday.
Much before his re-election Trump had pledged to bring peace to West Asia and expressed solidarity with Israel on the “heinous” October 7, 2023 attack.
Earlier this month, the US President had proposed a plan to resolve the decades-long West Asia crisis, suggesting the US taking over the Gaza Strip which, he said, has been “a symbol of death and destruction for so many decades”.
Azar, a seasoned Israeli diplomat, stated that Trump was saying something that is “very natural” as Gazans can be temporarily relocated to a safe haven until things get better.
“This is not something that is going to happen by force. It will be based on a voluntary basis. So, if there are countries that are ready to accept Palestinians, that want to take refugees, then we can do it,” he told IANS.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was the first foreign leader received by the US President after returning to the White House, last month.
“We are optimistic because we saw what the first Trump administration did to the region. We reached the Abraham Accords and Israel got very important achievements from that administration that have to do with the American recognition of Jerusalem, our capital, the moving of the American Embassy to Jerusalem, the recognition of Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights and many other things. So, we have a hope that with this Trump administration, we can achieve more,” he said.
Azar spotlighted that even though Israel always had good relations with “any American administration”, there were “some gaps” left during the tenure of former US President Joe Biden.
“We had some gaps with them when it came to the management of our struggle to defend ourselves from the Hamas attack. If you remember, the administration tried to make us refrain from doing the Rafah operation or was withholding some weapons that we needed for the war. So these are no longer there. These limitations are no longer there. And, we’ve heard very clearly from President Trump himself that he’s going to back Israel in whatever decisions Israel has to make to defend ourselves. That’s very encouraging,” the Israeli Ambassador told IANS.
(IANS)
