Moshe Feiglin: Identity Problem Puts Israel in Catch-22

In a press release on Sunday, Moshe Feiglin pointed out that according to official statistics of UNWRA, of the 1.5 million residents of the Gaza Strip, 1.2 million are officially defined as ‘refugees’ and as such, receive UN aid.

“The UN should provide them with aid elsewhere”, posited Feiglin. “For example, as I had previously suggested, on the border of the Sinai and in the vacant areas of Gaza. Refugees are refugees. If they are currently living in a place in which combat is taking place, they should be moved elsewhere for their security. Then it would be possible for Israel to re-take Gaza and eliminate the Hamas with full IDF firepower - without endangering our soldiers with entrance into tunnels or booby-trapped houses.”

“But Israel,” Feiglin added “lets its enemies hold both ends of the rope: It gives them sovereign status in our Land while simultaneously affording them refugee status.

No wonder that our cities and towns are showered by rockets while Israel is accused of encroaching on Hamas ‘sovereignty’ by closing Gaza’s borders” – and at the same time, is condemned for harming ‘innocent refugees’.

The problem is not the Hamas or the rest of the world. The problem is how Israel defines itself.”