US Politics
Trump’s Gaza plan involves ‘voluntary’ relocation of Palestinians – and giving them $5,000 each
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A plan for the post-war redevelopment of Gaza being considered by Donald Trump’s administration would see the region’s Palestinian population paid $5,000 to leave “voluntarily,” according to a report.
The Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation Trust, otherwise known as the Great Trust, proposes that the 2 million people currently living in Gaza could be paid to be relocated to other countries or secure zones as part of a deal that would also see them receive subsidies to cover four years of rent and a year’s worth of food, The Washington Post reports.
With the current population gone, the U.S.-administered trust then proposes to clear away the rubble and erect six to eight “dynamic, modern and AI-powered smart planned cities,” boasting multi-storey glass apartment complexes, public parks, golf courses, “world-class resorts” along its Mediterranean beachfront plus electric vehicle plants and data centres.
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The plan would also see Gaza divided by a new “MBS Highway,” named to honour Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and another major road built in honor of the UAE’s president Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan.
The Great Trust blueprint was reportedly drawn up in April by the Boston Consulting Group, run by Israeli-American businessman Michael Eisenberg and Liran Tancman, a former Israeli military intelligence officer, who claim to have taken inspiration from Georges-Eugene Haussmann’s redesign of Paris in the 19th century.
The venture reportedly would be undertaken without U.S. government funding and instead be paid for by joint public and private sector investments, with Israel maintaining its “overarching rights to meet its security needs” in relation to Gaza and internal policing carried out by third-country nationals and “Western” private military contractors until “local” police are trained up and ready to take over the responsibility.
Should the plan ultimately be chosen, it could face opposition from Israel’s Arab neighbor states. Saudi Arabia and UAE have both publicly backed a $53bn alternative dubbed the “Egypt plan,” which would similarly see the region massively redeveloped but without requiring the removal of its current residents.
Trump, a long-time ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has previously mused about an American takeover of Gaza as the best way to end the war and indicated that he considers its redevelopment a golden opportunity for luxury real estate developers, a sector in which he famously made his name prior to entering politics.
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“It’s been an unlucky place for a long time,” he said in February. “Being in its presence just has not been good, and it should not go through a process of rebuilding and occupation by the same people that have really stood there and fought for it and lived there and died there and lived a miserable existence there.
“Everybody I’ve spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land, developing and creating thousands of jobs with something that will be magnificent – in a really magnificent area.”
The president’s comments drew an angry response from some quarters and he caused further outrage later that same month when he posted an AI video on Truth Social imagining a glitzy future for the strip as a tourist destination if it were to be revamped under his guidance.
The president met with former British prime minister Tony Blair and his own son-in-law and ex-adviser Jared Kushner at the White House last week to discuss the future of Gaza as the second anniversary of the October 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas approaches.
The trio discussed all aspects of the Gaza issue, including escalating food aid deliveries, the hostage crisis, post-war plans and more, White House officials told Reuters.
