The plan treats Gaza as vacant beachfront property, proposing glass towers and industrial zones over historic sites.
At the World Economic Forum last week in Davos, Switzerland, Jared Kushner, a real estate developer and son-in-law of United States President Donald Trump, unveiled a “master plan” for post-war Gaza during a presentation.
The plan, which was contrived without any consultation with Palestinians in Gaza, promises to rebuild Gaza from scratch and includes residential towers, data centres, seaside resorts, parks, sports facilities and an airport.
“There is no Plan B,” said Kushner, as he unveiled the plan, accompanied by AI-generated images and a colour-coded map.
But a closer analysis of the proposal reveals a stark reality ignored by the glossy renders: The plan necessitates the total erasure of Gaza’s existing urban fabric.
The project forms part of Trump’s push to advance the Gaza ceasefire, which Israel has violated on a daily basis, killing nearly 500 people since it came into effect.
“I’m a real estate person at heart, and it’s all about location,” Trump said about the development plan. “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.
“We’re committed to ensuring that Gaza is demilitarised, properly governed and beautifully rebuilt,” Trump added.
Kushner did not specify who would fund the redevelopment. “As you guys know, peace is a different deal than a business deal, because you’re changing a mindset,” he said, calling the Gaza peace efforts “very entrepreneurial”.
He added that the reconstruction plan would only commence following full disarmament by Hamas and the withdrawal of the Israeli military after that.
“The plan chases a visual image similar to Dubai or Las Vegas,” Alraouf notes, pointing to the rendering of glass towers and marinas. “Technically, this creates gated communities designed for a specific economic class, rather than an organic city fabric that serves the local population.”
Construction is expected to take two to three years, but no details were provided regarding housing for hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians during this period.
During more than two years of constant attacks on Gaza starting in October 2023, Israel, supported by the US, destroyed or damaged more than 80 percent of the buildings in the Strip, completely flattening many residential blocks.
Israel has also destroyed all major hospitals and universities, as well as most of the electricity and water systems, roads, and municipal services.
Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has killed more than 71,000 Palestinians, with thousands more missing and presumed dead under the estimated 68 million tonnes of rubble.
Beyond the lofty promises, there were few details regarding the political future of Palestinians, with no mention of core issues such as property and land rights or a path to Palestinian statehood.
“Palestinians obviously have no voice whatsoever in this plan, there is no mention whatsoever of Israel, whether Israel will end its control and occupation of the Gaza Strip,” Tamer Qarmout, an associate professor in public policy at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, told Al Jazeera following the announcement.
Trump’s redevelopment plan shows how closely it is aligned with the needs of Israel’s occupation, according to analyst Sultan Barakat. “The whole idea of displacing the Palestinians, pushing them out from Gaza, has not ended,” Barakat told Al Jazeera.
The “New Gaza” map presented by Kushner proposes the elimination of numerous existing neighbourhoods, historic sites and landmarks that are part of Gaza’s identity and history.
The plan assumes a flat, ready-to-build surface. However, engineering experts point out that building high-rises on such terrain is technically fraught.
“This is real estate fantasy rather than urban planning,” Alraouf argues. He suggests that from an engineering standpoint, the huge amount of debris might be repurposed not for reconstruction, but for terraforming, potentially using the rubble to reclaim land from the sea to create the artificial landscapes shown in the renderings.
To better understand what this new plan would look like on the ground, we superimposed the newly proposed map onto a map of Gaza before Israel’s bombardment.
The map below shows which of Gaza’s neighbourhoods and famous landmarks would be transformed into “coastal tourism” areas, “industrial complexes”, “parks”, and “residential areas”.
While the inclusion of green areas is usually viewed as a positive development, for Palestinians, particularly in the occupied West Bank, what are referred to as green areas or parks by Israel are often designated as military zones. For Palestinians, these spaces are heavily restricted, and Israel routinely governs access, allowing its forces to move in and out at will while significantly limiting Palestinian freedom.
