Dr Marcelo Svirsky is a faculty member, Law, Humanities and the Arts, University of Wollongong, Australia with Research Interests in Critical Theory, Middle East Studies, Palestine, and Decolonialization. He is the author of “After Israel: towards cultural transformation” (see: https://uow.academia.edu/MarceloSvirsky ).
Dr Marcelo Svirsky on the ethnic cleansing of Palestine (2014): “Founded in 1951, first as a transit camp for Jewish immigrants, Sderot is located about a kilometre from the Gaza Strip and a few more strides from the city of Beit Hanoun. As with almost the entirety of Israel’s settled areas, Sderot was built on Palestinian land seized by the Jewish armed forces at the onset of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine that gave birth to the state of Israel. The original owners of that particular tract of land, most of whom lived in the village of Najd, were expelled to Gaza during two consecutive days in May 1948, and their village was later destroyed. It’s not implausible to assume that the descendants of refugees from Najd could be among those launching rockets at Sderot today. For their part, descendants of the Jewish immigrants to Sderot can be found gathering on the hillsides of the city to watch and cheer as the Israeli army drops bombs on Gaza”. [1].
[1]. Marcelo Svirsky, “From Auschwitz to Sderot: the decline of our humanity”, New Matilda, 1 August 2014: https://newmatilda.com/2014/08/01/auschwitz-sderot-decline-our-humanity .