Officials presented slide shows of what a post-war Gaza would look like, with pictures of skyscrapers stretching along the Mediterranean coast and housing estates in the Rafah area
The Trump administration has unveiled a plan for developing a “New Gaza” that would rebuild the Palestinian region from scratch. The plan was shown during the signing ceremony of President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Officials presented slide shows of what a post-war Gaza would look like, with pictures of skyscrapers stretching along the Mediterranean coast and housing estates in the Rafah area. It also contained a map of a redeveloped Gaza, developed in a phased manner with new residential, agricultural and industrial areas for the 2.1 million population.
“We’re going to be very successful in Gaza. It’s going to be a great thing to watch. I’m a real estate person at heart and it’s all about location. And I said: ‘Look at this location on the sea. Look at this beautiful piece of property. What it could be for so many people,’” Trump said in Davos.
Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, who helped broker peace in Gaza, said that 90,000 tonnes of munitions had been dropped on Gaza and there were 60 million tonnes of rubble to clear.
“In the beginning, we were toying with the idea of saying: ‘Let’s build a free zone, and then we have a Hamas zone.’ And then we said: ‘You know what, let’s just plan for catastrophic success’,” he said.
What does the plan include?
The presentation included the US “Master Plan”, showing an area reserved for “coastal tourism”. This area would also contain 180 tower blocks, as well as some zones for “residential areas”, “industrial complex, data centres, advanced manufacturing”, and “parks, agriculture and sports facilities”.
Trump plans to build an airport and a seaport near the Egyptian border. There would be a “trilateral crossing” where the Egyptian and Israeli borders converge. Rafah would be the first in the territory to be rebuilt, followed by the rest of Gaza in four phases.
The plans for ‘New Rafah’ outline an extensive infrastructure project, featuring over 100,000 permanent residences, 200 educational institutions, and 75 medical facilities.
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