In 1951, the US & Israel pressured Egypt heavily to mass transfer Palestinian refugees from Gaza into Sinai
In 1953, UNRWA & Egypt agreed to resettle 12,000 Palestinians in Sinai in return for $30 million from the US (today equals $355 million)
Gaza revolted & killed this plan
Gaza back then had a population of 200,000 people, two thirds of whom were forcibly expelled by Israel in the 1948 Nakba
In 1953 Israeli forces began attacking the Palestinian refugee camps in the Gaza Strip to punish, humiliate & terrorize their inhabitants in order to push them to accept the Sinai option & dismantle the camps
In one night on August 28, 1953, Israel killed 50 civilians in the al-Bureij camp. A massacre intended to spread fear & panic.
Gazans responded to the Sinai transfer idea by creating popular resistance movements in 1953. The demonstrations peaked in March 1955 with teachers, students, bus drivers, & store owners chanting: βNo relocation, no settlement. Down with US agentsβ & βThey drafted the Sinai project in ink. We'll erase it with blood.β
The military governor of the Gaza Strip, Major General Abdallah Refaat, fled to al-Arish upon the outbreak of the protests & issued a statement promising to, inter alia, end the Sinai relocation project.
