Jared Kushner speaks after the signing of a Board of Peace constitution in the course of the annual assembly of the World Financial Discussion board in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 22.
Evan Vucci/AP
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Evan Vucci/AP
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Loft-style flats with floor-to-ceiling home windows, an off-shore oil and gasoline rig, superior industrial zones and park-lined neighborhoods. That is “New Gaza,” a imaginative and prescient laid out by the Trump administration for the destroyed Palestinian territory after two years of warfare.
“We have already began eradicating the rubble and doing a number of the demolition,” Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, stated whereas presenting the plan not too long ago in Davos, Switzerland.
“After which ‘New Gaza.’ It might be a hope, it might be a vacation spot, have lots of trade and actually be a spot that the individuals there can thrive, have nice employment,” he stated.
The Gaza Strip is just 25 miles long and about 4 to 7 miles large. It was residence to round 2.2 million individuals earlier than the warfare, all residing in densely packed cities and refugee camps. Now, almost everybody lives in makeshift tents or bombed-out properties which might be prone to collapse. The World Financial institution estimated in 2024 the price of injury to crucial infrastructure alone was greater than $18 billion.
The plan laid out by Kushner rests on Trump’s ceasefire deal, which calls for that Hamas decommission its weapons as Israel withdraws from Gaza in phases. Reconstruction would solely begin in areas of Gaza the place Hamas is totally disarmed, or already emptied of Palestinians and below Israeli navy management.
This “New Gaza” plan, nevertheless, makes no reference to land deed transfers nor how new housing can be allotted to Palestinians. It additionally doesn’t say how households might be uprooted from present buildings that the plan would demolish, notably in central Gaza and components of western Gaza Metropolis the place many buildings are nonetheless intact.
Critics, together with individuals NPR interviewed in Gaza, say it erases Gaza solely and turns it into an funding alternative atop the ruins of what a U.N. fee determined was a genocide dedicated by Israel. Israel denies the allegation, and is preventing warfare crimes costs internationally.
It is unclear if any Palestinians have been consulted within the “New Gaza” imaginative and prescient unveiled by Kushner, however he says Israeli real estate investor, Yakir Gabay, performed a key position in crafting the plan. Each males are on the White Home-appointed Gaza Executive Board that may oversee the plan and report back to Trump’s Board of Peace.
Listed here are 5 issues to know in regards to the “New Gaza”:
1. Much less area for housing than earlier than the warfare
A slide from Jared Kushner’s “New Gaza” presentation in Davos, Switzerland, contains an annotated map outlining totally different areas of the Gaza Strip.
Screenshot by NPR/Board of Peace slide deck
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Screenshot by NPR/Board of Peace slide deck
Kushner’s plan envisions 4 district-like areas for Palestinians to stay in, nestled between massive inexperienced areas for parks and industrial zones that seem equal in measurement or bigger than the areas designated for housing. These industrial zones would create greater than half 1,000,000 jobs for Palestinians in Gaza, in response to the plan.
A report published by the U.N.-Habitat agency in 2024 stated 87% of Gaza was city space and almost all the remaining was refugee camps, describing the territory as “totally urbanized.”
Which means the plan leaves far much less room for Palestinian housing than existed earlier than the warfare, suggesting a smaller inhabitants in Gaza.
NPR requested the White Home-appointed Gaza Government Board whether or not the plan takes into consideration the complete inhabitants of Gaza. A spokesperson, who spoke on situation of anonymity to debate particulars of the plans, stated the figures introduced for the primary part of reconstruction are “simply the beginning,” with out elaborating.
2. Reshaped cities with some now not present
The plan lays out phases for rebuilding, beginning with the south. Two areas labeled as “Gaza Metropolis” to the north can be constructed within the final, fourth part.
