The US would take over the Gaza Strip and run it for at least 10 years under a reconstruction and investment proposal that has circulated within the Trump administration, The Washington Post reported on Sunday.
The plan, drawn up by some of the same Israelis who developed the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is distributing aid in the Palestinian enclave, proposes the displacement of Gaza's entire population, either outside the territory or to restricted zones inside the strip during reconstruction.
It comes after President Donald Trump in February said he wants the US to take over Gaza and establish an “ownership position” over the territory. On Wednesday, Mr Trump hosted the former UK prime minister Tony Blair and former Middle East envoy Jared Kushner, Mr Trump's son-in-law, at the White House, to discuss a “very comprehensive plan” for Gaza.
The Post's report follows a story in the Financial Times in July that also outlines the proposal, titled the Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation (Great) Trust. The FT said the Tony Blair Institute had some limited participation in the project, with two members of staff joining calls and message groups concerning the plan.
The US State Department did not immediately comment and it is not known to what extent the Great Trust proposal featured in Wednesday's White House talks. Mr Trump has previously called for new ideas to address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and there are questions over what will happen to the Gaza Strip, its buildings and infrastructure mostly reduced to rubble, when the war eventually ends.
In February, Mr Trump outlined his vision for the enclave, which he said could become the “Riviera of the Middle East”.
“We'll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site, and get rid of the destroyed buildings, level it out, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area,” Mr Trump said. “And we will do a good job with it, too.”
The same month, Mr Trump shared an AI-generated video that depicted Gaza as a rich man's skyscraper-studded playground, prompting outrage in the Arab world.
The 38-page project proposal shared by The Post envisions a completely reconstructed Gaza with the native population reduced by “voluntary” departures. It imagines Gaza as a global investment centre and a magnet for US electric car companies and regional data centres.
Palestinians with land would be offered a digital token that could be used to finance a life outside of the Gaza Strip or else eventually redeemed for an apartment in a newly developed building.
The proposal calls for the redevelopment of the coast into the “Gaza Trump Riviera”, which would include resorts and potentially even artificial islands like those developed off Dubai. The proposal makes no mention of Palestinian statehood but says the governing entity would join the Abraham Accords.
The project would, it is claimed, create up to a million jobs and involve skyscrapers built in six to eight “dynamic, modern and AI-powered smart planned cities”.
At least 63,459 people have been killed and 160,256 injured in Gaza since the war began after the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 22, 2023 killed about 1,200 people.
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