Trump abandons Mediterranean ‘Riviera’ plan in Gaza

The Arabs have won a key political battle in Israel’s unending war on Gaza. Under Arab pressure US President Donald Trump has abandoned his regionally and globally rejected proposal for post-war Gaza. This called for eviction of 2.3 million Palestinians from Gaza and reconstruction of the coastal strip as a Mediterranean “Riviera.”

A senior White House official told The Washington Post in an article published on September 12th that they “were talking to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey and others about a ‘receivership,’ in which the US would take some form of control over Gaza to give people ‘a better life.’ “It is an enormous grand master plan development.

Think of the Marshall Plan coming to ‘’Gaza,” the official said, referencing the US post-war development of Germany. ‘That’s how ‘’we’re thinking about this.” There was no mention of how this would be financed although the US funded the Marshall plan with taxpayer money appropriated by Congress.

This appears to be a bow to the detailed $53 billion Egyptian plan put forward in March and endorsed by the Arab League. If implemented, this plan would be managed by a committee of technocrats named by the Palestinian Authority and proceed in three stages: (1) clearing rubble and constructing 200,000 homes and 60,000 other buildings; (2) continuing clearance and construction with the focus on water, waste, telecom and electricity services, completing housing for all Gazans, and building an industrial zone, fishing port, commercial port, and airport; (3) providing humanitarian aid and interim governance until elections are held, preferably within a year.

Egypt and Jordan would train Palestinian police while the UN Security Council could authorise a peacekeeping mission to monitor governance until reconstruction is complete. Funding would be provided by international sources and foreign and private investments.

It is significant that the US officials leaked information on the administration’s plan for post-war Gaza in the wake of Israel’s attack on Hamas in Qatar, a US non-NATO ally which has been trying to mediate a Gaza ceasefire between Hamas and Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu rejects any ceasefire despite US calls for an early halt to hostilities and popular Israeli demands for an end to the war and the return of Hamas’ 48 captives in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani dined with Trump and his peace envoy Steve Witkoff in New York on Friday night. They reportedly discussed Qatar’s future role as a regional mediator and Qatari-US defence cooperation. During Israel’s strikes on Doha US forces based in Qatar did not offer protection. Earlier the Qatari premier told an emergency session of the UN Security Council that Israel went “beyond all borders” with the attack and destroyed hope of achieving a ceasefire in Gaza. He accused Israel of “trying to rearrange the region by force.”

Meanwhile, to reassure Israel of US loyalty, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has travelled to that country for a visit timed to coincide with the inauguration of an archaeological park excavated by the Israeli Antiquities Authority and operated by the illegal extremist settler organisation Elad. The site consists of a tunnel exposing a first Century BC Roman-era street which begins in the Jerusalem Silwan suburb, runs beneath Palestinian homes, under the walls of the Old City and ends at the western retaining wall for the hilltop compound where al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock are located.

Rubio’s appearance demonstrates that Israel’s strikes on Qatar had not damaged the US-Israel relationship despite Trump’s efforts at peace-making. He had said the war would be “over soon” and expressed exasperation with Netanyahu who has refused to commit to Trump’s ceasefire plan. This calls for the release of all Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, a ceasefire leading to an end to the war and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Netanyahu has refused to commit to ending the war and seeks to maintain troops in Gaza. The US appears to have exerted no pressure on Israel to halt its attack on Gaza City with a population of more than a million Palestinians. Netanyahu aims to establish complete control through reoccupation of Gaza which was conquered in 1967. He opposed predecessor Ariel Sharon’s withdrawal from Gaza in 2005.

The US has allowed Netanyahu free rein for too long and now he is taking it to extremes. After Britain, France, Australia and other Western countries announced they will extend recognition to a Palestinian state during the coming session of the United Nations General Assembly, Netanyahu declared there will be “no Palestinian state.” In response, his government has authorised a 3,000-housing unit Israeli settlement near the vast illegal settler city Ma’ale Adumim in the West Bank which has a population of more than 37,000. Combined with Ma’ale Adumim the new illegal settlement would create a barrier across and bisect the West Bank. Ma’ale Adumim and the new settlement are designed to divide the West Bank and prevent the emergence of a contiguous Palestinian state. This would include East Jerusalem, which Israel has illegally annexed, and Gaza which Israel currently controls from land, air, and sea.

It is difficult to understand why Trump – who is not a Zionist like predecessor Joe Biden — has fallen into lockstep with Netanyahu during his Gaza war although Israel’s standing has fallen dramatically on the international scene. In the US only one-third of citizens supported the war, according to a poll conducted in July. This brutal, unrelenting offensive has killed 63,700, wounded 163,500 Palestinians, driven 90 per cent of Gazans from their homes, and devastated residential areas, businesses, hospitals, schools, and infrastructure, and destroyed farms and agricultural land.