“I, for one, am pleased that Egypt has kept its border with Gaza.”
New York, June 25 – Activists who insist that other countries refrain from taking Palestinians from Gaza who wish to flee the war-torn territory made a similar claim regarding the millions exiting the Emerald Isle in the mid-nineteenth century, arguing that allowing those famine refugees to reestablish themselves elsewhere will only facilitate illegal British imperial interests and the mass-removal of an indigenous population.
“Pro-Palestine” commentators and personalities decried the US’s acceptance of large numbers of Irish immigrants following the repeated failure of the island’s potato crop and the resulting famine, which lasted from about 1845-1852. The activists called that policy of the US and several other nations one of “facilitating ethnic cleansing,” as at least 2.1 million people left Ireland during that time. The criticism echoed the same people’s admonitions not to allow Palestinians to leave Gaza despite the ongoing war with Israel that has already claimed tens of thousands of lives, because if Palestinians leave, that only serves Israel’s alleged expansionist and colonialist ambitions.
“We cannot allow ourselves to be party, even indirectly, to such a crime,” contended Ali Abinumah, who runs a pro-Palestine newsletter. “I, for one, am pleased that Egypt has kept its border with Gaza. Except for the tunnels through which it allowed Hamas to smuggle weapons and supplies. That part was fine. Until Israel found the tunnels. Which isn’t fine. Remember, the siege of Gaza is Israel’s fault because no one can leave, and the poor Gazans are trapped there, but we don’t want them leaving Gaza because that would only serve Israel, which wants to colonize and reestablish settlements there.”
Israel uprooted thousands of its citizens from decades-old communities in Gaza in 2005, leaving not a single Israeli inhabitant there. No Israeli government since has even hinted at any serious ambition to reverse the move.
The activists have evidently missed an opportunity to make an analogous accusation regarding refugees from eastern Ukraine. Review of traditional and social media materials from the last several years has turned up no indication that the same figures, or others associated with them, have argued that third countries must not take in Ukrainians escaping areas under assault or occupation by Russia.
Oddly, neither have they denounced reports of Vladimir Putin’s military and civilian apparatuses engaging in active ethnic cleansing of eastern Ukraine, whether in the form of transferring populations out of its conquered areas or moving Russians in, in direct violation of the Geneva Conventions and International Humanitarian Law the activists cite with glee when Israeli actions come up for discussion.
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