Palestinian refugees’ rights have become disposable

The genocidal tendencies of the current Israeli government are well evidenced. But if there is one category of Palestinian that attracts premium focus in this bloody regard, it is the refugees. Israel has engaged in a forever war against them since 1948. Remember, while much of the media has ignored the issue, refugees constitute 70 percent of the Palestinian population.

For decades, overcrowded refugee camps have been magnets for Israeli aggression. In 1971, for example, Israel bulldozed 400 homes in Jabalia camp. All eight of Gaza’s official camps have been decimated during the past two years. And last week in Lebanon, Israeli forces bombed the Ain Al-Hilweh camp near Saida, killing 13 Palestinians. Refugee camps across the region have repeatedly borne the brunt of Israeli military operations.

Israel’s entrenched animus toward refugees is also why it has pursued an unrelenting campaign against UNRWA, the UN agency mandated to serve Palestinian refugees. As one Israeli official once told me, “It is not the work of UNRWA we hate. It is its mandate and mission.” That mandate — preserving the rights and status of refugees — runs directly counter to Israel’s long-term objectives. The campaign has succeeded: UNRWA cannot operate in Gaza and is barely functioning in the West Bank. Israel even forced the closure of the agency’s East Jerusalem headquarters.

A new report from Human Rights Watch, published last week, highlights how Israeli forces have this year escalated their long-standing war on refugees by destroying three UN camps in the northern West Bank: Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams. The organization concluded that Israeli forces committed war crimes and a crime against humanity.

Refugee camps across the region have repeatedly borne the brunt of Israeli military operations

Chris Doyle

This devastation occurred under a full-scale military offensive known as Operation Iron Wall, launched on Jan. 21. Tanks, drones and Apache attack helicopters were deployed in dense civilian areas. More than 32,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced, with all three camps almost entirely emptied of their residents. According to Human Rights Watch, more than 850 homes and buildings were destroyed or heavily damaged. Streets were bulldozed and widened to allow armored vehicles easier access — an unmistakable sign of a long-term redesign of the camps rather than a temporary military raid.

Despite the absence of active fighting in the area, Israeli authorities have refused to allow residents to return. The military claims the operation responded to “security threats posed by these camps and the growing presence of terrorist elements within them,” yet provided no evidence to substantiate these claims. Human Rights Watch investigators, satellite imagery and eyewitness accounts point instead to a deliberate, systematic effort to depopulate the camps.

By any reasonable standard, this amounts to ethnic cleansing — a conclusion echoed by legal experts and human rights organizations. Israel also failed to meet its legal obligation to provide shelter or basic protections to those forcibly displaced.

No refugee was spared. In Tulkarem camp, Israeli soldiers prevented a man who uses a wheelchair from taking his more functional electric chair with him. Many families were given only minutes to flee, taking nothing with them but the clothes on their backs.

Camp residents interviewed by Human Rights Watch were unequivocal: they believed Israel was attempting to eliminate the “refugee question” by emptying and destroying the camps and thereby undermining their collective right of return to their original homes inside what is now Israel. Many described this as a second Nakba.

Israel also failed to meet its legal obligation to provide shelter or basic protections to those forcibly displaced

Chris Doyle

Two conditions made this massive operation possible. The first was that global political and media attention was focused on the genocide in Gaza. Israeli leaders and settler groups understood they could push the boundaries further while the world was consumed by events elsewhere. The second was Israel’s near-total impunity. Time and again, Israeli political and military leaders have faced no consequences for actions that would provoke international outrage were they committed in any other context.

The Human Rights Watch report goes further than most human rights investigations by naming senior Israeli officials it believes should be investigated for their roles, citing extensive evidence, including Israeli statements and satellite imagery. Those named include Avi Bluth, the commander who oversaw the raids, Herzi Halevi and Eyal Zamir, both former chiefs of staff of the Israeli military, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Defense Minister Israel Katz and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Some Israeli officials effectively implicated themselves. Katz openly declared: “I have instructed the IDF to prepare for a prolonged stay in the camps that have been cleared for the coming year — and not to allow residents to return and terrorism to grow again.” The policy intent is unmistakable.

Will the International Criminal Court issue additional arrest warrants? Given the scale of the atrocities, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the court has been constrained by US sanctions. Its year-long inaction is glaring.

Diplomats tried to visit the Jenin camp in May. But Israeli forces fired warning shots to deter them. With the camps standing empty, such behavior suggests the Israeli military knows it has much to hide.

The absence of accountability means Palestinians fully expect the expansion of this operation. Other West Bank refugee camps may soon meet the same fate. The message is clear: the rights of Palestinian refugees are openly disposable.

• Chris Doyle is director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding in London. X: @Doylech