Nearly one-third of Gaza residents wanted to leave before the war, according to survey data published by Itamar Marcus of Palestinian Media Watch in the Jerusalem Post on Monday.
The proportion has almost certainly risen since the start of the war in October 2023, after the Hamas terror attack on Israel.
Marcus wrote:
The question being asked today around the world is whether President Donald Trump’s plan to resettle Gazans in other countries can succeed. Judging by a poll taken just prior to the war, before much of Gaza was destroyed, Trump’s proposal is reasonable.
The poll by the top Palestinian polling agency, the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, found that a full 44% of Gazan youth between the ages of 18-29 were considering emigrating. Nearly a third (31%) of the entire population considered emigrating.
Gazans’ “most preferred destination for immigration is Turkey, followed by Germany, Canada, the United States, and Qatar,” the poll found.
In addition to proposing that most or all of the current residents of Gaza be resettled elsewhere, President Trump said last week that the U.S. intends to take possession of Gaza — unless an alternative plan can be found.
Not one Arab country has offered to take in Palestinian refugees from Gaza — not even during the war, and not even on a temporary basis, when doing so might have saved many lives and helped Israel defeat Hamas terrorists quickly.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.