However, it is questionable how realistic the plan is. Although a ceasefire was agreed in October, it remains fragile. Since then, fatal incidents have occurred repeatedly. Hamas has still not agreed to give up its weapons. But this is an essential prerequisite for the next phases of a peace plan. In addition, Israel has so far shown no interest in giving up the half of the coastal strip it captured in the war.
“You can create as many slides as you want,” Steven Cook, senior fellow for the Middle East at the Council on Foreign Relations think tank, told the Wall Street Journal. “Nobody in Israel thinks you’re making any progress, and everyone is OK with that.”
Another question is where the people who now live in the destroyed houses in the Gaza Strip will live during the construction work. The plan talks about accommodation and clinics. There are said to be at least two million Palestinians still living in the Gaza Strip.
In addition, millions of tons of rubble would have to be cleared away, including thousands of corpses and unexploded bombs. Therefore, the construction phases should be divided into phases. It should start with Rafah, then follow Khan Yunis and finally Gaza City. In Rafah alone, more than 100,000 residential units are to be built, as well as more than 200 schools, universities and training centers. 180 mosques and cultural centers are also noted.
But the planners are obviously aware of the risk. Written in red on a slide is that the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip depends on Hamas “demilitarizing and decommissioning all weapons and tunnels.” If security is guaranteed, implementation of the plan could begin within two months.
On Friday there was a meeting between Kushner, Witkoff and representatives from Egypt, Turkey and Qatar in Miami. Kushner has already had a career in commercial real estate and helped run his family’s real estate empire. He also worked as an advisor in Trump’s administration during his first term in office.
Since leaving the White House in 2021, Kushner has repositioned himself as an investor in a variety of companies. He founded Affinity Partners, a Miami-based private equity firm that has raised more than $3.5 billion, much of it from Middle East sovereign wealth funds.
