Khaberni - Israeli Minister of Culture Miki Zohar, a member of the ruling Likud party, said that Gaza belongs to Israel, and that the Palestinians in the Strip are "guests allowed to stay there temporarily" by the Israeli authorities.
In an interview with the Israeli Broadcasting Authority, he said: "We only allow them to stay there as guests for a certain time, but Gaza is ours," according to the Times of Israel today Friday.
He also claimed that "Judea and Samaria" belong to Israel as well, referring to the West Bank. He added, "We are not occupiers on our land."
These statements came as the United States pushes to implement the second phase of the Gaza agreement, which calls for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the devastated Palestinian sector and the start of reconstruction.
The statements also came as Israel continues building more settlements in the West Bank. The Israeli Civil Administration approved the "E1" project last August to build new settlements over an area of 12 square kilometers east of Jerusalem.
According to the decision text, the project will connect the Ma'ale Adumim settlement, parts of which were established on lands of the town of Al-Eizariya, to the city of Jerusalem, thereby separating East Jerusalem, which Israel occupied and annexed in 1967, from its Palestinian surroundings.
