By Kolawole Ojebisi
The number of countries kicking against Donald Trump’s plan of relocating Palestinians from their native land to neighbouring nations has continued to increase.
This is as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, on Monday, joined the growing list of nations and leaders averse to the US president’s Gaza redevelopment plan.
Recall that much of Gaza has been reduced to rubble following a year of intense fighting between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian militant group.
Trump began touting his idea to eject Palestinians from the enclave last week when Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli prime minister, visited Washington.
The US president said the Palestinians would be relocated to Egypt, Jordan, and other neighbouring countries.
However, on Monday, Erdoğan dismissed the plan while speaking at a conference in Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital.
“From our perspective, the proposals aiming to displace the Palestinians from the land they have lived on for thousands of years are not to be taken seriously,’’ he said.
“No one has the power to inflict a second Nakba on the Palestinian people, nor will they ever have,’’ he added.
The term Nakba, from the Arabic for catastrophe, refers to the flight and displacement of more than 700,000 Palestinians in the first Middle East war in 1948, following the establishment of the Israeli state.
Erdoğan asked that Netanyahu, who applauded Trump’s plans, be held accountable for the destruction of Gaza.
He also asked that Israel be charged with rebuilding the enclave.
Neighboring Arab nations have also rejected the idea of Palestinians relocating to their country.
The United Nations had warned that the forceful ejection of residents from their land would amount to “ethnic cleansing”.
