Zionists pursue ethnic cleansing in Palestine

Tehran, Qodsna – Jafar Ramini, a Palestinian author and political analyst based in London, said in an exclusive interview with the Qods News Agency that the Zionist movement had thought about removing Palestinians from their ancestral land since 1897, because every Zionist official from the day one has been seeking ethnic cleansing in Palestine.

Asked about the Zionist regime’s genocidal war on Gaza, Ramini said: “It doesn’t matter to the Zionist occupiers of our land how many Palestinians they murder; 34,000, 54,000, 104,000 will not quench their thirst for our blood. Cheer leaders for Israel in the western media try to project this carnage as the ‘inevitable’ reaction to what the Palestinian resistance movement did when they raided Israel on October 7th 2023.  Far from it. This is the modus operandi of the Zionist movement since the day they decided on Palestine as a homeland for the Jews, in 1897. First, they coined the phrase, ‘a land without people for a people without a land’ to project to the world that Palestine was an empty place and that we, the Palestinians never existed. Every Zionist leader, from Herzl to Netanyahu, openly called for the ethnic cleansing of Palestine and the removal of Palestinians from their ancestral homes. There is a plethora of evidence for this.

Theordor Herzl, founder of the World Zionist Organisation, wrote in Complete diaries on June 12, 1895: We must spirit the penniless population across the frontier by denying it employment. Both the process of expropriation and the removal of the poor must be carried out discreetly and circumspectly.

David Ben-Gurion, first Prime Minister of Israel, wrote in a letter to his 16-year-old son, Amos, October 5, 1937: We must expel the Arabs and take their places.

Joseph Weitz, Head of Jewish National Fund, wrote in his diary in December 1940: Not one village must be left, not one tribe.  Only after this transfer will the country be able to absorb millions of our brothers and the Jewish problem will cease to exist.  There is no other solution.

As for its aftermath, and the effect on Palestinian lives, the blanket bombardment of Gaza for 200+ days and the obscene amount of ordinance used, has left nothing in its wake that can sustain normal life. No homes, no hospitals, no schools, no mosques, no churches, no water system, and no sewage system.  Nothing is left standing or functioning. Gaza will have to be rebuilt from scratch.”

Asked about the pressure of the world people on their governments to force the Zionist regime to stop atrocities in Gaza, the analyst said: “There is no doubt that world public opinion has tilted sharply towards the Palestinian plight.  The entire world has witnessed the callousness, brutality, and murderous intent of Israel and the complicity of various Western governments in these war crimes. People have been demonstrating all over the world, in huge numbers, for the last six months, while most of the time, their governments turn a blind eye. Without the United States of America, the main backer and facilitator of Israeli aggression putting its foot firmly down, and saying to Israel STOP! - nothing will change.  Israel will continue in its aggression, knowing full well that the USA, especially in an election year, will always ‘have its back’.”

On Palestinian resistance fighters’ right to initiate the October 7 operation against the Zionist regime, Ramini said: “The Palestinian Resistance fighters had every right to resist their occupiers and their oppressors. The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has expressly affirmed the right of Palestinians to resist Israeli military occupation, including through armed struggle as is enshrined in international law. This is how ex-President of the USA, Barrack Obama, described it addressing a group of Israeli students at the Jerusalem International Convention Center in Jerusalem in 2009, saying, ‘Put yourself in their shoes.  Look at the world through their eyes.  It is not fair that a Palestinian child cannot grow up in a state of their own. Living their entire lives with the presence of a foreign army that controls the movements not just of those young people but their parents, their grandparents, every single day.  It’s not just when settler violence against Palestinians goes unpunished. It’s not right to prevent Palestinians from farming their lands; or restricting a student’s ability to move around the West Bank; or displace Palestinian families from their homes. Neither occupation nor expulsion is the answer.’

In response to a question on the way that the Palestinian people can achieve their rights and overcome the ongoing occupation, the analyst said: “The one and only way for liberation and restoration of Palestinian rights is UNITY - amongst all Palestinian factions.  The division between Fatah (The Palestinian Authority) in Ramallah and Hamas, the resistance movement in Gaza serves only one purpose, to prolong and entrench the occupation of Palestine. Every Palestinian, be they living under occupation, or in the diaspora must shoulder his or her responsibility and strive to unite the nation under one flag and for one purpose, and one purpose only.  Freedom and liberation.”