DONALD Trump has a plan to offer Palestinians $5,000 each to leave Gaza for a decade, as part of a wider plan to turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.
Under the plan, which runs to a 38-page prospectus and is currently circulating the White House, it would see the territory become a trusteeship under the control of the US.
While under US control it could be turned into a tourist destination and tech hub .
The Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation Trust, or Great Trust, would Gaza’s entire two million population relocated through “voluntary” departures to another country or to restricted, secured zones within the enclave in exchange for a digital token to give up their land.
The proposals, which have been seen by The Washington Post , are likely to prove to be controversial both with the USA’s allies and Arab states regarding the rebuilding of Gaza and who oversees it, and the plan to remove the Strip’s population.
Land tokens would hand the US-administered trust the right to develop Palestinians’ property, which would be used to finance life in another country or to be later redeemed for an apartment in one of up to eight possible new “AI-powered, smart cities” which are planned to be built in Gaza.
Every Palestinian who chooses to leave would also be handed $5,000 in cash, subsidies to cover four years of rent as well as a year’s worth of food.
The plan has been devised by the Israelis, who also set up the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a body that distributes food inside Gaza at aid sites.
It comes as the Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said that Abu Obeida, the Hamas spokesman, was killed in an Israeli strike on Saturday.
The killing of Obeida was described by Eyal Zamir, the Israel Defence Forces’ chief of staff, as being “not the end”.
He added: “Most of Hamas’s leadership is abroad, and we will reach them as well.”
Obeida’s death was one of around 88 reportedly killed in a wave of Israeli attacks in the past 24 hours.
An Israeli security cabinet meeting on Sunday evening discussed annexing the West Bank, according to Axios, in response to Western countries, including the UK, pledging to recognise the state of Palestine.
Sir Tony Blair visited Donald Trump at the White House last week to discuss proposals for rebuilding Gaza.
Sir Tony has worked as an adviser to Mr Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.
The Tony Blair Institute (TBI) has undertaken polling which showed the “preferred choice” of Gazans was for the territory to be modelled on the United Arab Emirates.
The day before the meeting, Mr Witkoff said the administration had a “very comprehensive plan”.
Large parts of the Great Trust were allegedly created to bring to life Mr Trump’s vision of transforming Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East,” according to sources speaking to The Washington Post.
A blueprint of the plan, obtained by the paper, shows skyscrapers built from metal and glass springing from green fields, with a highway bisecting the centre of the territory.
Under the proposal, Gaza would be split into six to eight “dynamic, modern and AI-powered smart planned cities”, featuring apartment buildings of up to 20 storeys, surrounded by parks, golf courses and “world-class resorts” on the coast.
The plan wouldn’t need US government money but would be financed by joint public and private sector investments in so-called “mega-projects”.
These would include the “MBS Highway,” a ring road and tram line running around the perimeter of Gaza, named after the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, while another highway would be called Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, UAE president, as well as electric vehicle plants and data centres.
Plans to rebuild Gaza have also been drawn up by Saudi Arabia and the UAE who have both committed to a $53billion (£39bn) “Egypt plan”.
Under their scheme, Gaza would be rebuilt in five years, incorporating towers, parks, ports, business zones and an international airport.
This plan does not involve removing the Gazan people and appears to blend Mr Trump’s vision for a new Dubai with a view to create a sustainable peace in the region.
In the Great Trust plan, during the first year, Israel would supposedly keep “overarching rights to meet its security needs” and internal security would be policed by third-country nationals and Western private military contractors.
Then, over the remaining years, trained “local police” would gradually take over and the trust would eventually give up its control of the territory when a “reformed and deradicalised Palestinian Polity is ready to step in its shoes”.
It’s believed the plan was drawn by in April by a team at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), which is run by Michael Eisenberg, an Israeli-American, and Liran Tancman, a former Israeli military intelligence officer.
An unnamed source familiar with the matter told The Washington Post: “It’s not prescriptive, but is exploring what is possible.
“The people of Gaza need to be enabled to build something new, like the president said, and have a better life.”
