Arab states adopt Egyptian alternative to Trump’s ‘Gaza Riviera’

CAIRO - Arab leaders adopted an Egyptian reconstruction plan for Gaza on March 4 that would cost US$53 billion (S$71 billion) over five years and avoid displacing Palestinians from the enclave, in contrast to US President Donald Trump’s “Middle East Riviera” vision.

The White House said the plan adopted by Arab states did not address Gaza’s reality, and that Mr Trump stood by his proposal.

Mr Trump’s plan to displace Palestinians in a US takeover

of the enclave received global condemnation in February, and echoed longstanding Palestinian fears of being permanently driven from their homes.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said the proposal, welcomed in subsequent statements by Hamas and criticised by Israel, had been accepted at the closing of a summit in Cairo.

Mr Sisi said at the summit that he was certain Mr Trump would be able to achieve peace in the conflict that has devastated the Gaza Strip.

The major questions that need to be answered about Gaza’s future are who will run the enclave, and which countries will provide the billions of dollars needed for reconstruction.

Mr Sisi said Egypt had worked in cooperation with Palestinians on creating an administrative committee of independent, professional Palestinian technocrats entrusted with the governance of Gaza after the end of the war.

The committee would be responsible for the oversight of humanitarian aid and managing the strip’s affairs for a temporary period, in preparation for the return of the Palestinian Authority (PA), he said.

The other critical issue is the fate of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, the PA’s rival, which triggered the Gaza war by attacking Israel on Oct 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

The attack was followed by Israel’s military assault on Gaza that has killed more than 48,000 people, according to the local health ministry.

The assault has also displaced nearly Gaza’s entire population and led to accusations of genocide and war crimes, which Israel denies.

The Islamist faction, which has run Gaza since 2007, said in a statement it agrees to the Egyptian committee proposal.

Hamas has agreed it will not field candidates for the Cairo-proposed committee, but it would have to give its consent to the tasks, members and the agenda of the committee that would work under the PA’s supervision.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said late on March 4 that the names of the individuals participating in the committee had been decided.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads the PA, said he welcomed the Egyptian idea, and urged Mr Trump to support such a plan that would not involve displacing Palestinian residents.

Mr Abbas, in power since 2005, also said he was ready to hold presidential and parliamentary elections if circumstances allowed, adding that his PA was the only legitimate governing and military force in the Palestinian territories.

Hamas said it welcomed the elections.

Mr Abbas has seen his legitimacy steadily undermined by Israeli settlement building in the occupied West Bank, which he oversees. Many Palestinians now regard his administration as corrupt, undemocratic and out of touch.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry in a statement called the plan “rooted in outdated perspectives” and rejected the reliance on the PA, while complaining that Hamas was left in power under the plan.

“The current proposal does not address the reality that Gaza is currently uninhabitable and residents cannot humanely live in a territory covered in debris and unexploded ordnance,” White House spokesman Brian Hughes said, when asked whether Mr Trump would support the Arab leaders’ plan.

“President Trump stands by his vision to rebuild Gaza free from Hamas,” he said.

Reconstruction would need Gulf states

Any reconstruction funding would require heavy buy-in from oil-rich Gulf Arab states, such as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, which have the billions of dollars needed.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa said the reconstruction fund would seek international financing as well as oversight and likely be located in the World Bank.

The UAE, which sees Hamas and other Islamists as an existential threat, wants an immediate and complete disarmament of the group, while other Arab countries advocate a gradual approach, a source close to the matter said.

A source close to Saudi Arabia’s royal court said the continued armed presence of Hamas in Gaza was a stumbling block because of strong objections from the US and Israel, which would need to sign off on any plan.

In a speech at the summit, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said international guarantees were needed that the current temporary ceasefire would remain in place, adding that he supported the PA’s role in governing the strip.

Leaders of the UAE and Qatar did not speak during open sessions of the summit.

Hamas was founded in 1987 by Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood during the first Palestinian Intifada, or uprising.

Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri on March 4 rejected Israeli and US calls for the group to disarm, saying its right to resist was not negotiable.

Mr Abu Zuhri told Reuters the group would not accept any attempt to impose projects, or any form of non-Palestinian administration or the presence of foreign forces.

Since Hamas drove the PA out of Gaza after a brief civil war in 2007, it has crushed all opposition there.

Alternative to Trump plan

Egypt, Jordan and Gulf Arab states have for almost a month been consulting over an alternative to Mr Trump’s ambition for an exodus of Palestinians and a US rebuild of Gaza, which they fear would destabilise the entire region.

A draft final communique from the summit seen earlier by Reuters rejected the mass displacement of Palestinians from Gaza.

Egypt’s Reconstruction Plan for Gaza is a 112-page document that includes maps of how its land would be redeveloped, and dozens of colourful images generated by artificial intelligence of housing developments, gardens and community centres.

The plan includes a commercial harbour, a technology hub, beach hotels and an airport.

Israel was unlikely to oppose an Arab entity taking responsibility for Gaza’s government if Hamas was off the scene, said a source familiar with the matter.

But an Israeli official told Reuters that Israel’s war aims from the beginning have been to destroy Hamas’ military and governing capabilities.

“Therefore, if they are going to get Hamas to agree to demilitarise, it needs to be immediately. Nothing else will be acceptable,” the official said.

Sources familiar with Hamas said the group had lost only a few thousand fighters in the Gaza war.

Israeli officials say around 20,000 Hamas fighters had been killed and the group as an organised military formation has been destroyed. REUTERS