The US has unveiled plans to rebuild the devastated Gaza Strip at the World Economic Forum in Davos, showcasing a series of impressive skyscrapers, the BBC reports.
The presentation showed rows of skyscrapers along the Mediterranean coast and homes in Rafah, as well as maps showing the phases of new residential, commercial and industrial developments for the 2.1 million people living there. The plan to rebuild Gaza came as member states signed a peace agreement to join US President Donald Trump’s peace council, which aims to end the war between Israel and the Hamas terror group and oversee the rebuilding of Gaza. Trump said the council would be “very successful” and “a great thing to watch”. He stressed that he is a real estate entrepreneur at heart, and location is the most important thing: “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’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who participated in the process of concluding the ceasefire, which took effect in October, said that 90,000 tons of ammunition had been dropped on Gaza, and 60 million tons of debris had to be removed from the territory. He said that at first there was a toy with the creation of a free zone and a Hamas zone, but then the Americans decided to plan for simply phenomenal success. Hamas had signed an agreement on demilitarization, and it would be implemented – there was no plan B.
Maps of the US plan showed an area reserved for coastal tourism, where 180 skyscrapers are planned, as well as numbered residential areas, industrial zones, data centers and factories, as well as parks, agricultural areas and sports facilities. A new port and airport are planned near the Egyptian border.
The reconstruction of Gaza is planned in four stages, starting with Rafah and then gradually moving north.
The map also showed a strip of empty land along the Israeli-Egyptian border, where, according to Trump’s 20-point peace plan, a security perimeter would be located, where Israeli forces would temporarily stay.
The presentation indicated that New Rafah would contain more than 100,000 homes, 200 educational institutions and 75 medical facilities. Rafah was once home to about 280,000 people, but Israeli strikes have reduced it to rubble, and the area is currently controlled by Israeli forces. Kushner said Rafah could be rebuilt in two to three years.
Last February, Trump sparked outrage by saying that Palestinians living in Gaza should be permanently resettled in neighboring countries, while the territory would be taken over by the United States, which would create a Middle Eastern Riviera there.
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