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The Palestinian presidency said on Monday that it rejects any suspicious attempts to assign former British Prime Minister Tony Blair or others to work for the displacement of citizens from the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Israel's national security and finance ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, announced their support for the voluntary displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian presidency – in a statement carried by the official Palestinian news agency "Wafa" – that this matter is a condemned and rejected act.

On Sunday, Israel's Channel 12 reported that Israel planned to appoint Tony Blair as a mediator with Western countries to persuade it to take in Palestinian refugees from the Gaza Strip after the war ends.

Blair was on a secret visit to Israel last week, where he held unannounced meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and war council minister Benny Gantz to discuss the matter.

For its part, the Palestinian presidency said, "We will call on the British government not to allow this tampering with the fate and future of the Palestinian people."

"We will call on the Secretary-General of the United Nations (Antonio Guterres) to do what is possible in order not to allow such actions that violate international law and international legitimacy."

Blair's participation in the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza represented interference and an act that only served Israel's interests, abused the Palestinian people and their rights, and pushed them to give up their land.

"It seems that Tony Blair is completing the Balfour Declaration issued by the British government with American participation (in 1917), which established the tragedy of the Palestinian people and ignited dozens of wars in the region."

The presidency said it considered Blair persona non grata in the Palestinian territories.

There was no immediate comment from Israeli authorities.

A source close to Blair denied the Channel 12 report.

The source said the allegations about Blair's link to the displacement of Palestinians were untrue. "There has never been such a discussion, and Blair would not discuss such a proposal."

Smotrich and Ben Gvir: We support voluntary displacement

On the other hand, the Israeli ministers of national security and finance, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, announced on Monday their support for the voluntary displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

The leader of the right-wing Jewish Power party, Itamar Ben-Gvir, said in a tweet on the X platform, "We must promote the solution to encourage the migration of the people of Gaza, this is the right, just, moral and humane solution."

"We have partners around the world that we can help (by absorbing migrants)," he said, without naming those countries.

"Encouraging the migration of Gazans will allow us to repatriate the residents of the Gaza Strip and the residents of Gush Katif (settlement)," Ben Gvir said.

Israel withdrew its forces and drove its settlers out of the Gaza Strip in 2005, including the Gush Katif settlement in Gaza.

Israeli Army Radio quoted Smotrich as saying: "The right solution for the Gaza Strip is to encourage voluntary immigration to countries that agree to receive refugees."

The leader of the right-wing Religious Zionism party added that "Israel will rule permanently, to ensure security through the permanent presence of army forces on the ground, and the establishment of Jewish settlements."

In recent weeks, there have been Israeli calls for the voluntary displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. Last November, MP Danny Danon of Netanyahu's Likud party proposed the issue of voluntary immigration of Gazans.

Source : Al Jazeera + Anatolia