PUTRAJAYA: Israel must foot the nearly US$100bil (RM450bil) cost of rebuilding war-torn Gaza instead of trying to displace its people, says Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
He said a recent proposal to expel the Palestinians from their land “cannot be taken seriously”.
“God willing, no one can or will be able to inflict a second Nakba on the Palestinian people,” Erdogan said.
(Nakba, the Arabic term for catastrophe, refers to the mass displacement of Palestinians during the Arab-Israel war in 1948).
Erdogan said instead of trying to expel the Palestinians, Israel and its current administration should bear the cost of rebuilding Gaza.
On Feb 4, US President Donald Trump said Washington will “take over” Gaza and resettle Palestinians elsewhere under an extraordinary redevelopment plan that he claimed could turn the enclave into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.
His proposal was met with wide condemnation from Palestine, Arab countries, Malaysia, and many other nations, including Canada, France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
Last Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for the displacement of Palestinians to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
However, the Saudi Foreign Ministry reaffirmed its “categorical rejection” of such rhetoric, emphasising that “the Palestinian people have a right to their land”.
Erdogan said discussions regarding the fate of Gaza should be on its reconstruction.
“The financial cost of the destruction in Gaza is about US$100bil (RM450bil),” he said.
Erdogan said the Netanyahu administration should be made responsible for the cost of reconstructing Gaza.
“Israel must pay this bill on its own. First of all, the Israeli government must compensate for the destruction they have caused and the reconstruction process in Gaza must be started with this,” he said.
