The Board of Peace proposal, put forward by Donald Trump’s son-in-law, would see Gaza turned into a tourism and investment paradise lined with glittering high-rise buildings
Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” has released a prospectus of photos detailing the US President’s horrifying real-estate-based vision for a post-conflict Gaza.
The photos, released today by the board during a presentation at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, show the war-torn strip’s coast dotted with glittering high-rise buildings. The proposed “New Gaza” and “New Rafah” have been marketed as business hubs that would “empower” Gazans with “jobs, training and services”, but have come under intense criticism as a ploy by developers and dictators to exploit the region.
And they have brought back uncomfortable memories for people who have watch the Trump administration’s early AI-fuelled schemes for Gaza.
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The slides presented by the board show a relentlessly developed Gaza, which in pictures appears to be being used as a transport hub, with vast eighbourhoods of white homes arranged in concentric circles. Other images, some using stock footage, show the region’s “transport hubs”, promise “energy and digital infrastructure”, and plans for both massive investment and returns.
Speaking from the WEF today, Jared Kushner, Trump’s real investor son-in-law, presented the $25billion (£18.5billion) proposal as a means to turn Gaza into a an economic hub he claimed would create a Gaza GDP of $10billion (£7.4billion) by 2035.
The proposal would mean turning a major section of the Gaza coastline into a zone designated for coastal tourism, dotting the coastline with 180 mixed-use towers. The Gaza Strip’s interior would be reserved for residential neighbourhoods and industrial zones to accommodate data centres and manufacturing facilities.
Among infrastructure proposals outline this week were a port an airport, a trilaterial crossing at Rafah, and a vast, American style network of ring roads connecting Gaza’s urban communities.
The proposals have prompted massive outrage, especially among displaced Palestinians, whose future is again in the hands of accused war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu, whose Israeli Defence Forces have killed more than 70,000 people since October 7, 2023.
Among critics is displaced Gazan mum Manal al-Qouqa, who told Al Jazeera Palestinian suffering “only increases” every time something new is announced. Another displaced Palestinian, Suhail al-Hanawi, blamed Netanyahu and Trump for being “behind wars worldwide” and said there was “nothing tangible” convincing them of a brighter future.
He said: “Regarding the Board of Peace and us, the displaced in the camp, there’s nothing tangible that makes us feel that anything will actually be fixed or that our suffering will be eased.”
One social media commenter responding to the pictures argued the plan is “solely aimed at stealing Gaza’s natural gas and other resources”. They said: “This plan is solely aimed at stealing Gaza’s natural gas and other resources, exploiting its crucial strategic location, and eliminating the right of return and effectively ending the Palestinian cause.”
The Board of Peace is composed of a host of controversial world leaders other than increasingly unpopular Trump, including, the President said today, ruthless Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
As Russian forces continue to wage a bloody campaign against Ukraine, Trump said today that Putin would join the board alongside representatives from other controversial nations like authoritarian Belarus and Hungary in Europe, and from brutal Middle East regimes like Saudi Arabia.
