An extensive investigative report has unveiled astonishing details of a secret plan led by the Israeli Mossad in the late 1960s to relocate tens of thousands of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Paraguay. The investigation, prepared by writer Ben Raif, deputy editor of the Hebrew magazine "972+", is based on a new podcast series titled "Palestinians in Paraguay" and showcases a failed attempt to expel 60,000 Palestinians through a plan whose details ominously intersect with current Israeli policies towards the Gaza Strip, following two years of war and widespread devastation.
The story began in September 1969, when about 20 young Palestinians boarded a plane from an airport in central Israel, believing they were heading to Brazil for lucrative jobs through a fictitious program set up by a travel agency called "Patra". The promises included salaries of up to $3,000 a month and the possibility for their families to join them later. However, instead of landing in the Brazilian city of São Paulo, these young men found themselves in Asunción, the capital of Paraguay, under the dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner, only to discover that they had no jobs, no housing, and no knowledge of the local language. They were stripped of their true identities and given ID cards with random occupations before being left in isolated rural areas.
Details of the Event
The investigation confirms that these men were deceived into boarding the plane as part of a larger secret plan to collectively relocate Gaza Palestinians. Talal Al-Dimasi, one of the survivors of this deception who still lives in Paraguay, told the Israeli newspaper: "I was given a choice between joining the program or having my entire family expelled... It was an explicit threat disguised as economic opportunities."
This incident was not isolated but part of a larger project to relocate 60,000 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Paraguay, according to documents from the Israeli official archive dating back to May 1969. These documents revealed that Israel agreed to pay $33 for each displaced person to the Paraguayan government, with an upfront payment of $350,000 for the first 10,000 individuals. At that time, the population of Gaza did not exceed 400,000, meaning the plan aimed to empty the area of a significant portion of its youth.
Background & Context
Although the actual number of those relocated remains unclear, the investigative report indicates that the plan targeted a broad segment of the Palestinian youth in Gaza. However, the operation did not last long, as it was halted after only a few months, partly due to resistance from the displaced individuals themselves. Many faced harsh conditions that drove them to flee Paraguay to neighboring countries or seek primitive means of livelihood.
The displaced did not succumb to their bitter reality. On May 4, 1970, Talal Al-Dimasi and his companion Khaled Kassab stormed the Israeli embassy in Asunción to confront Israeli ambassador Benjamin Weiser Varun. The clash resulted in the ambassador being injured and his secretary Edna Beer being killed, causing a significant media uproar at the time. Although the incident was portrayed as a political assassination attempt by the Palestine Liberation Organization, the two-year trial revealed to the world the details of the secret "Paraguay Conspiracy", forcing the occupying state to completely halt the program.
Impact & Consequences
The two young Palestinians were sentenced to 13 years in prison, of which they served 8 years. Al-Dimasi revealed that he faced assassination attempts while in prison, including an attempt to poison him. He stated in a radio program on the podcast: "By my actions, I saved 60,000 Palestinians who would have been relocated to Paraguay... They remained in their homeland."
Ben Raif links this current reality to that secret plan and broader Israeli policies since the inception of the Zionist movement, which sought to "maximize control over the land while minimizing the number of Palestinians." The writer cites the events of the Nakba in 1948, when about 750,000 Palestinians were displaced, and the Naksa in 1967, which led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands.
Regional Significance
Despite the passage of decades, the investigation indicates the continued policy of official silence regarding this plan, even after some details were revealed. It also points out that the same discourse has resurfaced in recent years, especially after the attack by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, where proposals were made to relocate Gaza residents to the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula under the guise of "voluntary migration."
Raif noted in his investigation that Israel established an office for voluntary migration aimed at effectively relocating Gaza Palestinians after making the area unlivable. The writer highlighted statements from senior Israeli officials—such as Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir—who reused this term, with practical plans to create offices specifically for organizing migration.
He also quoted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as saying that the destruction of homes in Gaza would lead to "the only clear result: emigration abroad." The investigation by "972+" uncovered recent operations suspected to be an extension of an old approach, where transport trips for Palestinians from Gaza to various countries were organized without prior coordination with those countries.
In November of last year, the investigation tracked a mysterious flight that transported 153 Palestinians from Ramon Airport in southern Negev to Johannesburg, South Africa, via Kenya, without the Palestinian passengers knowing their destination and without providing them housing or return tickets. The travelers told the media that their trip was organized by a group called "Majd Europe," which charged them between $1,000 and $3,000 per person after making promises through electronic advertisements to provide safety and medical treatment abroad.
Days later, an investigation by Haaretz revealed that the "Majd Europe" group is owned by an Israeli-Estonian businessman, and that its operations were licensed by the Israeli government's "Voluntary Migration Office." Despite the deaths of tens of thousands and the destruction of 90% of infrastructure and homes, the Israeli magazine in its investigative report asserts that the mass relocation project faces a catastrophic failure.
"972+" concludes that what is known as the "Paraguay Plan" was not merely an isolated historical incident but an early model of policies that continue to recur in various forms. Although these efforts have failed to achieve their goals on a large scale, their persistence reveals, according to the investigation, an "exceptional determination" to reduce the Palestinian presence. Conversely, the investigation highlights the resilience of Palestinians, noting that attempts at mass relocation have not succeeded, either in the past or the present. Raif conveyed a personal story shared by Talal Al-Dimasi, who still lives in Paraguay, stating that Gaza "returns to him in his dreams," adding: "One day, there will be peace."