NJ Palestinians react to Israeli plan to empty Gaza

By: Hannan Adely
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... Fares Abufares gets why some Palestinians would want to leave Gaza.
..... Buildings, schools and hospitals are largely destroyed after three years of military siege. food and medicine are scarce. Most families now live in crowded, fragile tents, whee rain, cold and heat are felt intensely.
..... But most of the people he knowns, including his mother, friends and many of the people he served as an aid worker on the ground in Gaza, are resolved to stay, he said.
..... "They feel that this is our land and we can't have the land," said Abufares, a Paterson resident. "This is where we were born and raised. It's hard."
..... "I talked to my mother," he said. "She told me, 'I'd rather die over here. I'm not leaving.'"
..... That resolve remains even as Israeli leaders unveil a formal proposal to transfer the population of nearly 2 million Palestinians out of Gaza.
..... National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir outlined the seven-year plan at a press conference on Thursday September 3, [2026] calling it "voluntary emigration,"while sparking accusations from some human rights groups of attempting "ethnic cleansing."
..... "Instead of illusions of peace now, we need actions of emigration now," Ben-Gvir said.
..... The plan calls for moving 250,000 out of Gaza kin the first year, 1.1 million within three years and all 1.9 million people within seven years, Ben-Gvir said.
..... Ben-Gvir's Jewish Power party said Turkey, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo were being considered as potential destinations. With Israeli elections scheduled for October 27, [2026] he called for the creation of a "ministry in change of emigration" in the next government.
..... Defense Minister Israel Katz said a day earlier that Israel was waiting for approval from the United States to move ahead with the effort.
..... "There is no real solution for Gaza in the end without this migration," Katz told a conference hosted by Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper. Israel, he added, was "fully prepared" to remove people "by sea, by air, by every way possible.
..... Asked about the effort, a State Department spokesperson said that "the United States does not support any plan or proposal for the forced displacement, expulsion or mandatory transfer of the population of Gaza." the spokesperson noted the Trump administration's 20-point "peace plan" from last year. [2025]
..... "As explicitly stated in Point 12 of the president's plan: 'No one will be forced to leave Gaza, and those who wish to return. We will encourage people to stay and offer them the opportunity to build a better Gaza," the spokesperson said in a statement Friday. [09/04/2026]
..... For the plan to become government policy, it would also need to be adopted by the Israeli government.
..... It's not the first time population transfer has been floated.
..... right-wing politicians in Israel have called for such an effort before President Donald Trump himself touted such a plan in February 2025, when he called for transferring Gazans to other countries and turning the land into a luxury resort destination. He backed away amid an international outcry.
..... Israeli leaders say the plan is for "voluntary emigration," even as residents of Gaza say they don't want to leave. Some lawmakers and advocates say extreme tactics after being used to displace the population.
..... "They are trying to achieve that by making Gaza unlivable, Abufares said, describing life they as like living in the "dark ages."
..... On Thursday September 3, [2026] Senator Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland, respond to the news, saying it confirmed his findings from a visit to the region last year. [2025] "any talk of 'voluntary departures' is a cruel hoax," he wrote in a report with Senator Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, at the time. "departure is not 'voluntary' when the conditions needed to support life are extinguished."
..... The forced displacement of civilians in occupied territory is considered a war crime under the Geneva convention.
..... Israeli officials have defended their military perorations in Gaza as an act of self-defense after the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023. In Israel, 1,2000 people were killed in the attacks and another 251 were taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies. Once then, more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's military campaign, according to Gaza helaht authorities, and thousands remain missing under rubble.
..... An October 2025 U. S.-backed ceasefire halted large-scale fighting, but it has not ended Israeli strikes or produced progress on a plan for permanent peace.

New Jersey reaction

..... In New Jersey Palestinian Americans said the news of the plan was not unexpected.
..... Aref Abukweik of Wayne argued that displacement of Palestinians "had long been the goal." People were struggling, he said, but they do not want to abandon their homeland. They worry, too, about where they would be sent and the living conditions they would face.
..... Abufares was in Gaza when war broke out three years ago. [2023] As an aid worker for the charity HEAL Palestine, he stayed until last summer [2025] when the sudden death of his wife brought him home. He as been unable to return thus far, he said.
..... "If you ask me to go back to Gaza and be with my family and friends, I'd go in a heartbeat," he said. "I left my heart and soul in Gaza."

Lawmakers weigh in

..... NorthJersey.com contacted members of New Jersey;s congressional delegation for comment. Two out of 14 responded.
..... "I reject any effort by the far right in the Israeli government, including extremists like Ben-Gvir to undermine the safety and dignity of Palestinians," said Representative Frank Pallone, D-Long Branch. "their actions not only undermine efforts to achieve peace through a two-sate solution, they have cost Israel uproot around the world.
..... An aide to Senator Cory Booker, said the senator "does not support this" and that his "north star is ensuring a two-state solution."
..... Representative Bonnie Watson-Coleman, D-Ewing, denounced the effort when Trump spoke about it last year. [2025]
..... "This is a policy of ethnic cleansing," she wrote on X. "forcing people form their land through violence and denying them the chance to return and rebuild. It is an egregious violation of Palestinian human rights - all so Trump's real estate donors can get even richer."

..... This article includes material from Reuters.

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