The Palestinian ambassador to Ireland, Dr Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid, has condemned plans by Donald Trump to resettle Palestinians out of the war-torn Gaza Strip, and said it belongs to the Palestinian people.
âThis is our land. And no one on Earth can uproot us,â she said. âWe belong there and we will remain there. This is me and any Palestinians on this Earth. This is the position. No one has the right to decide on behalf of the Palestinians.â
Speaking on RTÃ radioâs Morning Ireland programme, she said that Palestinian people would âdefend our legitimate rights to be there and to have our own free state of Palestineâ.
The US president said on Tuesday, standing alongside Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, that in the aftermath of the ceasefire, there was now a chance for the Gaza Strip to be redeveloped into âsomething magnificentâ, like a âRiviera of the Middle Eastâ.
But Gaza was beautiful before Israel had destroyed 92 per cent of it, Dr Wahba Abdalmajid, who is from Gaza but represents the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, said.
She said there were 6.5 million Palestinians in Palestine, and that Mr Trump could say âwhatever he wants to sayâ about a resettlement, as long as he recognises âthose people are human beings and they have rights and they have legitimate rights to be in their homelandâ.
The ambassador added that her family and friends would not be moving from their land, even if it meant living in a tent while their homes are rebuilt.
âGaza was devastated, but people still wanted a better life; they could not do it by themselves, they needed the international community to support them politically and with humanitarian aid.â
She said international attention should now be turned to how to support Palestinians, rather than âbusiness dealsâ.
Ireland South MEP Billy Kelleher also decried the Trump plan for Gaza, calling on the European Union to denounce it.
âThe European Union, through its commission president, its foreign affairs high representative and its president of the European Council, must absolutely and unequivocally denounce president Donald Trumpâs and prime minister Netanyahuâs plan to expel the Palestinian population from Gaza,â he said in a statement.
âThis would be a war crime. An act of hate in complete contradiction of international law, human rights and basic decency. A failure of the union leadership to do so would be a stain on the EUâs reputation and damage our credibility on a world stage as a geopolitical leaderâ.
The Fianna Fáil MEP said the plan announced by Mr Trump alongside Mr Netanyahu was âshamefulâ in light of Europeâs history.
âA forced displacement of an entire population took place in the first half of the 20th century. It was sinful back then and it is sinful today in the 21st century,â he said.
