Israeli settler association calls for displacement of Palestinians to Jordan

The Israeli Promised Land settler association has intensified its campaign to displace the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank to neighbouring Jordan, distributing thousands of posters and flyers demanding that the local residents should leave. The posters say things such as, “The road is safe for you now to leave” along with a map showing the “right route” to make the journey from Nablus and Ramallah, for example, to Salt or Ajloun in the Hashemite Kingdom.

Another poster map included a gathering place for the people of Jenin, saying that they should, “Leave safely to the city of Irbid in northern Jordan” through a “specific route” that is “guaranteed and safe”, to “protect their families before the promised day.” This “promised day” implies that something bad will happen to those who ignore the “safe” routes. “Hurry to Karak before the promised day,” the Palestinians in Hebron were told. “You do not exist in the land of our ancient ancestors… Go to Jordan before our holy army wakes up.”

The propaganda posters also included the infamous map used by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and a message in Arabic and Hebrew that, “It is all our land and we decide where you will move.”

Such extremist rhetoric is not new, but the latest campaign across the occupied West Bank last week led to the Jordanian Embassy in Tel Aviv addressing the issue officially in correspondence with the Israeli occupation regime. Jordan demanded that the Israeli government should clarify its position on the fact that settler associations which receive support and finance from the Israeli military print and publish such leaflets and posters.

Jordanian officials say that such settler activities are funded and supported by two ministers in the government, Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. Israel has not responded to the Jordanian demand for clarification.

All of Israel’s settlers and the settlements in which they live across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem are illegal under international law.

READ: ‘There will be no peace as long as Palestine is under Israeli occupation’: Palestinian aide