Israel Tried to Move 60,000 Gazans to Paraguay

Latin Arabia History, Palestinians , , 0 Comment

Source: The Jerusalem Post
August 12, 2020

The government of Israel secretly planned to encourage Palestinians to move from Gaza to Paraguay, which agreed to accept up to 60,000 of them, according to the minutes from a 1969 cabinet meeting uncovered by KAN journalist Eran Cicurel this week.

…

The protocol from 1969 states that Israel would bear the travel costs of the Palestinians moving to Paraguay and give each person $100, plus $33 per person would go to the government of Paraguay. At the time of signing the agreement with Paraguay, Israel would pay $350,000 to cover the costs for 10,000 émigrés. The full amount Israel was meant to pay was $33 million.

$33,000,000 (overall)
———————————————–       ==       $550 per Palestinian (overall)
60,000 Gazans (as planned)

Of course, the Palestinians would not get all of that money. Most of it would have gone to travel costs, administration, and payments to the central Paraguayan government.

$100 would be given to each Palestinian personally to relocate?! That was an absurdly low figure.

Why would Paraguay have even considered taking in 60,000 Muslims in?

Because Paraguay was run by a right-wing dictator, Presidente Stroessner, and Israel promised that the Muslims would not be leftist.

Only 30 Palestinians moved to Paraguay.

Had the plan worked, it would have cleared Gaza out of 10% of its population, while making Paraguay roughly 2.5% Muslim at that time. Can you imagine how that demographic percentage would have blossomed over the intervening five decades?

Israel did not, nor does not, seem to mind exporting its Muslim problem. What is amazing is how it did not care about the problems it would have created for Paraguay which would have accepted them.

The creation of a 2.5% Muslim demographic would not have been a minor issue to a poor country like Paraguay. It would have produced a disaster in a few decades.

I have recommended paying Arabs from the contested area to move to South America, but always at immigration rates which would produce less than a 1% Muslim demographic in any country — and even then, only to countries like Brazil, Argentina, or Chile which have the ability to absorb Arabs … not to small countries like Paraguay which could not handle them.

As it is, Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina meet at what is called the Triple Frontier area of South America. It is notorious for smuggling and Hezbollah penetration. Can you imagine how much worse it would have been if 60,000 more Gazans had immigrated to Paraguay in 1969?

Source: Hezbollah Operations in the Tri-Border Area of South America
Spring 2011

The Tri-Border Area, bounded by Puerto Iguazu, Argentina; Ciudad del Este, Paraguay; and Foz do Iguacu, Brazil, developed into a breeding ground for a wide array of illegal interests. As a result, the research community considers it to be lush ground for terrorist organizations to operate unrestricted, including Hezbollah.

And I have always recommended giving the immigrants enough money to set themselves up, and not become a social problem. Today that amount would be roughly $100,000 per Arab, not chump change.

In 1969, that would have been equivalent to $14,000 per Arab, not the $100 given to each Arab personally.

Israel wanted to effect this movement far too cheaply, even by 1969 standards.

December 8, 2023 — Added a discovered old tweet, for interest.