Inside the Likud Conference on Rebuilding Settlements in Gaza: What’s Really at Stake?

In a scene met with conspicuous international silence, hundreds of right-wing Israelis gathered on October 21, 2024, for a conference to discuss reestablishing settlements in Gaza.

The conference took place in a restricted military zone near the Be’eri settlement along the Gaza border and was attended by a group of ministers and parliamentarians, including members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right Likud party.

The Likud-led two-day outdoor conference, titled “Preparing to Resettle Gaza,” aimed to replace the original residents of Gaza with extremist settlers under full Israeli control.

Participants indicate that the plan focuses on implementing what is described as “the most practical solution” — relocating Gaza’s residents to other countries while enforcing a strict policy against their remaining in the region.

Among the attending ministers were Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, Minister of Housing Yitzchak Goldknopf, Minister of Culture and Sports Miki Zohar, and Minister of Tourism Haim Katz.

Minister of Heritage Amihai Eliyahu, who previously called for the nuclear bombing of Gaza to “wipe out its population,” was also present.

“If we want it, we can renew settlements in Gaza,” Ben-Gvir told the hundreds who gathered 3 kilometers away from the enclave.

The extremist minister also called for “Israel” to “encourage emigration” of Palestinians from Gaza. 

“It's the best and most moral solution, not by force but by telling them: 'We're giving you the option, leave to other countries, the Land of Israel is ours',” he said.

Minister of Social Equality May Golan said Gaza’s residents are “monsters and butchers who tried to kill us last year,” asserting that “Israel” has the right to defend itself with all available means. She supported the settlers’ rights to propose “any plans or means necessary.”

Knesset member Avichay Buaron echoed this sentiment: “We want to restore settlement in Gaza to secure the south. Without it, there’s no safety for the south or Tel Aviv.”

Daniella Weiss, leader of the Nachala radical Israeli settler organization, called the conference a “new era,” promising, “You will see your dream becoming true—Jews throughout Gaza. The residents of Gaza will disappear forever; we’ll make the world accept this.”

“I hope you’ll soon enjoy Gaza’s beaches and sea, as Gazans and Arabs have lost their right to stay in Gaza forever.”

700 Families

On October 22, 2024, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Nachala settlement movement was present at the Gaza settlement conference. The far-right movement announced six potential settlements in Gaza, with 700 extremist Jewish families reportedly signing contracts to move there.

Nachala aims to start constructing these settlements within a year, pledging to populate the occupied areas of Gaza with Jewish communities. The movement receives direct backing from Likud members in the Knesset, who frequently attend its events, and enjoys Netanyahu’s support for expanding settlement activities in both the West Bank and Gaza.

Hamas condemned the “concerning international silence” regarding the Israeli “Generals’ Plan,” which seeks to revert Gaza to its pre-2005 state, when roughly 8,000 Israelis lived there. This aligns with repeated statements from the ruling Likud Party, advocating for Gaza’s depopulation and settlement expansion.

‘It Brings Ruin’

Many have raised concerns about the idea of establishing settlements in Gaza, arguing that this Likud-supported plan encounters significant obstacles, making it “nearly impossible” to achieve as intended by Likud and extremist Zionist groups.

On September 12, 2024, Dror Feigelson, a data and computer science professor at Hebrew University, wrote an article in The Times of Israel, challenging the notion that Israeli settlements “improve security.” He argued instead that “settlements bring ruin.” 

Feigelson based his view on reports from the Israeli Shin Bet, which indicate daily attacks against the Israeli army in the West Bank.

Feigelson said the impact of settlements and expansion on Israeli security is counterproductive, stating that the army’s operational efficiency suffers as it is heavily tasked with settlement security. He attributed the collapse of the Israeli army on October 7, 2023, to its deployment of 30 battalions away from the Gaza border.

Even before Operation al-Aqsa Flood, Israeli army officials cautioned against settlement expansion. In June 2017, retired intelligence major and Harvard researcher Avishay Ben Sasson-Gordis published a study through the Molad Center for the Renewal of Israeli Democracy, noting that settlements stretch the defensive line the army must cover.

Gordis said the army is forced to defend settlements deep within Palestinian areas, weakening its capacity to secure Israeli cities within the Green Line. He also highlighted that the army must keep up to two-thirds of its combat force in the West Bank, with 80% devoted to settlement security and only 20% guarding the 1967 borders.

International Obstacles

The global challenges facing Israeli settlement plans include resistance from key international and regional powers. Even the Israeli Occupation’s closest ally, the United States, which supports its genocidal war on Gaza, stands opposed to settlement expansion.

On October 23, 2024, during his visit to the Middle East, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reaffirmed Washington’s stance against Israeli calls to rebuild settlements in Gaza. Speaking from Riyadh, Blinken stated, “We’ve been very clear that when it comes to the future of Gaza, we do not support and will not support an Israeli reoccupation.”

This position is echoed by Cairo, which has resisted all attempts to relocate Palestinians to the Sinai. On October 8, 2023, a day after Operation al-Aqsa Flood, Israeli Occupation Forces spokesperson Colonel Richard Hecht proposed establishing safe passage for civilians in Gaza to the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt.

On October 13, the Israeli Occupation Forces took this further by issuing a statement urging all Gazan residents to evacuate southward (toward the Egyptian border). Egypt's Foreign Ministry promptly condemned the move, reaffirming that any displacement of Gaza’s population would equate to “a liquidation of the Palestinian cause,” as described by the Egyptian presidency.

Palestinian researcher Mohammad Hamed called the idea of displacing Palestinians to make way for Israeli settlers in Gaza “one of the most deranged and fascistic notions of the modern era.” 

“It is not enough for the world to have killed and besieged more than 2.5 million people, depriving them of food, shelter, healthcare, or any humane conditions for over a year—now they seek to expel them entirely from their land and property,” he told Al-Estiklal.

“This will never happen due to the Palestinians’ deeply rooted identity and beliefs. They will not abandon their land and will continue their resistance until all of Palestine, from sea to river, is liberated—not Gaza or the West Bank alone. We are a people engaged in a long struggle for freedom and independence, and this is merely one chapter of it.”

“Another crucial factor is the international and regional context. Who would accept—not two million or even one million, but even a hundred thousand or two hundred thousand people—to settle in their country as refugees? This is a delusional proposal that has resurfaced over the years, one the Jews hope to implement, but we say to them that these are the dreams of locusts, a people with neither land nor homeland,” the researcher added.

The plans for Jewish settlement and the displacement of Palestinians, particularly in Gaza, the West Bank, and occupied Jerusalem’s Old City, have existed for decades and are frequently echoed by Israeli politicians and media figures.

Gaza represents a Palestinian population “time bomb” for “Israel,” creating ongoing security and political concerns. Former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin once famously said, “I wish I could wake up one day & find that Gaza had sunk into the sea.”

Gaza’s Secret

One key reason for the Israeli Occupation’s 2005 withdrawal from Gaza was the overwhelming Palestinian “demographic” advantage. On December 27, 2021, Israeli political analyst Yoni Ben-Menachem told Anadolu Agency that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s decision to withdraw from Gaza was the right one. 

He said there are currently two million Palestinians there, and in a few years, that number could rise to three or four million; the situation in the West Bank is different, as the right wing considers it a part of “Israel” and irreplaceable.

 Ben-Menachem also noted that “Israeli leftists and centrists see demographic fears as pushing for an Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders to maintain Israel as a purely Jewish state with minorities.” 

“Demographic-political concerns were among the reasons that persuaded Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to sign the Oslo Accords.”

On November 9, 2021, Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies published a study indicating that since the end of the large wave of Jewish immigration from the former Soviet Union, the percentage of Jews in the population balance has decreased due to the faster natural growth rate of the Palestinian population in Israel so far.”

An additional decrease in the Jewish population percentage will occur if “Israel” annexes land with Palestinian inhabitants, according to the same study.

These factors frame the current Israeli crisis amid the rise of Palestinian demographics, which “Israel” cannot halt. Considering Gaza an existential threat, “Israel” seeks to revive longstanding plans to displace segments of the Palestinian population to neighboring countries, specifically Egypt and Jordan.