Eve is here. This post chronicles some of the costs of Israel’s campaign of ethnic supremacy in the Middle East, which has received little attention. The lack of coverage is not surprising given the limited coverage of casualties in Gaza and now Lebanon. The Lancet reports that the media regularly fails to acknowledge that the death toll in Gaza is in the hundreds rather than tens of thousands, and that the media reported that 300 people were killed in a bunker bombing in Beirut to assassinate Hassam Nasrallah. Witness the disregard for the fact that more civilians died. . Recall that ethnic cleansing-like displacement was Israel’s original objective in Gaza after October 7, but Egypt refused to play ball.
In other words, this article ignores that for Israel, migration is a feature, not a bug. Notice the lack of subjectivity in the headline. And I have no sympathy for the view that Hezbollah’s attacks on military targets in northern Israel result in Israel playing the victim of northern Israeli settlers leaving the area. Hezbollah has vowed that its attacks will end if Israel agrees to a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
By Nicholas R. Misinski, assistant professor of political science and international affairs at the University of Maine, and Kelsey Norman, Middle East researcher at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. It was first published in conversation
After years of conflict, a new era of mass displacement in the Middle East has arrived.
Since Hamas Attack on Israel on October 7, 2023,and Continued Israeli air strikes on GazaIsrael is expanding operations on multiple fronts, including: west bank, yemen, Syria and Lebanon.
The fighting continues unabated, with the possibility of direct confrontation. Conflict between Iran and Israel intensifiesthe region is currently in a new period of internal and cross-border displacement, with millions of people already forced from their homes.
as scholar emigrationwe are concerned that the consequences of such evacuations could impact the region for years to come and further impede the ability of local people to live a safe and secure life. Masu.
evacuated and trapped in Gaza
Due to continued attacks by Israel, Approximately 2 million Palestinians Nine out of ten residents of the Gaza Strip have fled their homes in the past year.
What is Unique scale The most distinctive feature of displacement in the Gaza Strip is that almost all internally displaced persons are trapped and unable to leave the territory, as Israel continues to close its borders and bombard them.
This intensifies the cascading humanitarian crisis; including starvation and spread of diseasealong with countless other difficulties that make normal life nearly impossible.
For many Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, a year of shelling has meant repeated displacement as humanitarian space shrinks and Israeli attacks shift from region to region.
And although it is, Complex historical and geopolitical reasons Regarding border closures, international law experts argue that Egypt and Israel: violated international refugee law By refusing to allow Palestinians in Gaza to cross the Rafah border to seek asylum.
The situation in Gaza is structurally different from previous displacement crises in the region, even in war-torn Syria, where cross-border aid operations continue. brought to the brink Of collapse. because it’s israel continue to restrict Humanitarian workers struggle to provide basic food, shelter and medical care amid a blockade of aid into the territory and a rarely halted bombing campaign.
To make matters worse, my experience over the past year has taught me that: refugee camp, private apartment building, united nations schooland hospital Places that serve civilians and refugees are not safe places. Israel frequently justifies attacks on such sites by claiming they are used by Hamas and Hezbollah, despite the formal United Nations. conflict of many Regarding these accusations. At least 220 UN personnel have also been killed in targeted Israeli attacks over the past year. more than any other crisis ever recorded.
This contributes to the fact that humanitarian workers struggle to reach people in need, especially displaced people. Meanwhile, the United States continues to top donors It is the largest arms supplier to Israel, supplying the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the United Nations Palestine Refugee Agency (UNRWA).
Crossing Gaza to Lebanon
Lebanon is also experiencing large-scale displacement due to the progress of the war between Israel and Hezbollah.
Even before the cross-border conflict between Lebanon and Israel escalated in September, almost Israeli shelling forced 100,000 Lebanese from their homes in southern Lebanon. Meanwhile, about 63,000 Israelis were in the country. kicked out from the north of the country due to Hezbollah rocket attacks.
However, starting in late September 2024, Israel strike Targeting Hezbollah and Palestinians in Beirut and across Lebanon, hundreds of civilians were killed and the number of internally and cross-border refugees increased sharply. Over 1 million Lebanese I ran away now Their homes were taken within days during Israeli invasion and shelling.
more Syrian refugees And Lebanon’s large migrant workforce has also been displaced, many sleeping on the streets or in makeshift tents, unable to enter buildings that serve as shelters for Lebanese.
Another clear example of reverse migration saw an influx of approximately 230,000 people from both Lebanese and Syrian populations. ran away Cross the border into Syria.
Returning home is a risky option for many Syrians who still fear repression by the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, after the recent regional conflict between Arab uprisings and displaced people since 2011 has come to an end. Israel’s continued invasion of Lebanon is likely to further amplify these trends. the state ordered Many villages and towns in the country’s south, several miles above the United Nations-recognized buffer zone, were evacuated.
Regional evacuation layers
For decades, the Middle East has experienced large-scale displacement across national borders for a variety of reasons. The initial forced migration of Palestinians and the ensuing conflict over the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 produced world peace. longest lasting Approximately 6 million Palestinians live in a refugee situation across the Levant. The first Gulf War, sanctions against Iraq in the 1990s, and the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 created millions of refugees and created long-term displacement. political influence For the community.
More recently, the 2011 Arab uprisings and subsequent wars in Syria, Yemen, and Libya resulted in millions of refugees and internally displaced people, making nearly all people refugees. 6 million Syrians still live in Türkiye, Lebanon and Jordan, and an additional 6 million people are displaced within Syria. With most Syrians not returning home, international organizations have become a semi-permanent safety net providing basic services to refugees and host communities.
With the displacement of new classes of nationals, refugees and migrant workers in Lebanon and their movement across the border into Syria, further burdening the lack of funds humanitarian aid system.
Furthermore, the current war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon is not the first time a conflict has erupted between Lebanon and its northern neighbor before causing mass displacement. In an attempt to eliminate the Palestine Liberation Organization, Israel invaded Lebanon in 1978 and again in 1982. Due to the Israeli invasion in 1982, Sabra and Shatila Massacre A survey of 1,500 to 3,000 Palestinian civilians carried out by Israel’s Christian allies, the Lebanese, shows that military operations that do not differentiate between militants and civilians could have devastating effects on displaced populations. It shows that.
600,000 to 900,000 Lebanese fled abroad During the entire course of the civil war from 1975 to 1990.
Twenty years later, in 2006, Israel invaded Lebanon again to eradicate Hezbollah. Approximately 900,000 Lebanese evacuated The southern part crosses the border into Syria.
The speed and volume of Lebanese displacement in 2006 was unprecedented at the time, but the number of people displaced in late September and early October 2024 quickly surpassed that record.
Therefore, this region is well aware of the effects of mass migration. But one year after the current conflict began, what is clear is that the Middle East is now entering a new era of displacement in terms of scale and variety.
And the number of families whose lives will be destroyed by this new era of evacuation is likely to continue to increase. Tensions in the region are further heightened by new missile attacks by Iran and Israel. threat of retaliation by Israel.
Decades of conflict in the region has shown that civilians are most likely to bear the brunt of fighting, including forced displacement, inability to access food and medical care, or death.
Only a cessation of current hostilities and a durable ceasefire across the region can create the conditions for those at risk to return and begin rebuilding. This is especially true for displaced people in Gaza who have been repeatedly forced from their homes, have no safe borders to cross, and where political solutions remain elusive.
