Palestinians in Gaza Slam Kushner’s Reconstruction Plan as Disguised Theft |
Struggle and Solidarity: Writing Toward Palestinian Liberation
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Coastal tourism sites, 180 gleaming skyscrapers, business and industrial centers, new urban cities, more than 100,000 housing units, over 200 schools, more than 75 medical facilities, and a colossal number of job opportunities. This is Jared Kushner’s futuristic master plan for Gaza.
Kushner — Donald Trump’s son-in-law and former U.S. special envoy — presented his master plan in Davos at the World Economic Forum in the form of a computer-generated, color-coded map of what he described as a “new Gaza.”
“I know it’s a little risky to be investing in a place like this, but come, take faith. Invest in the people,” Kushner said. Two years of genocide have altered Gaza into a flattened wasteland, with over 90 percent of residential buildings lying in ruins. Yet, despite the so-called ceasefire, the interests that are profiting from its collapse and exploiting its devastation have never truly withdrawn.
Trump had proposed clearing the area of its inhabitants and turning it into the “Riviera of the Middle East,” a vision depicted in an AI-generated video shared by the U.S. president in 2025. It is an unoriginal approach to imposing free-market economy principles on Gaza: Shimon Peres had previously envisioned the transformation of Gaza into another Singapore, as if both were once poor, backward, and demolished cities. If Singapore was turned into modern city, Gaza has the same potential, according to Peres.
Referring to his own plan, Trump reasserted, “I’m a real estate person at heart, and it’s all about location.”
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Aligning with these free-market interests, Kushner set a $25 billion budget to reconstruct Gaza within three years, under specific frameworks and conditions. He also called on the private sector to invest confidently in his plan, which many of us who live here see as an imminent Vegas-ification of Gaza.
The redevelopment plan encompasses four phases. Phase one is set to begin in Rafah and parts of Khan Younis, while phase two will expand to the rest of Khan Younis. Phase three involves cramming displaced families into refugee camps in central Gaza, while phase four transforms Gaza City into an industrial zone. Yet, the entire plan is conditioned on Hamas’s full disarmament.
“We are all aspiring to see Gaza rebuilt and thriving, but not at the cost of plundering Palestinian sovereignty and statehood.”
“We are all aspiring to see Gaza rebuilt and thriving, but not at the cost of plundering Palestinian sovereignty and statehood.”
Mohammed Johar, a young, educated father in his twenties who lives in Gaza, described Kushner’s plan as a “sword with two edges.” He continued, “We are all aspiring to see Gaza rebuilt and thriving, but not at the cost of plundering Palestinian sovereignty and statehood.”
Johar, like many other Gazans, has long suffered from unemployment and suffocating living conditions. Reflecting on the plan, he said, “The lofty promises of job opportunities, dignified lives, and sustainable necessities feel like a breakthrough compared to what Gaza has been buried beneath.”
Johar added, “Beyond the physical reconstruction, this will........