The imagery was sleek, the promises grand. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, presented a “Trump economic development plan” for Gaza—complete with AI-generated renderings of glass towers and marinas which reimagined the devastated enclave as a futuristic tourist destination.
However, these glossy images bear little relation to the reality of a population emerging from a catastrophic humanitarian crisis. Famine was recently declared, over a million people lack adequate shelter, and the health system has collapsed. Trump’s plan would obliterate Gaza’s history and society by imposing a top-down economic and tourism model. Few Palestinians, if any, have been consulted in its development: in the absence of Palestinian agency, President Trump will “exercise all power and authorities” as chairman of the Board of Peace (BoP).
Europeans and Arab states will be asked to buy into this plan for Gaza when they meet under the auspices of Trump’s BoP in Washington on February 19th. But they need to develop an alternative vision for Gaza’s future. Instead of supporting Trump’s Vegas-style real-estate project, Europeans and their allies must ensure Palestinian ownership and political sovereignty remain at the forefront of rebuilding Gaza.
Trump’s dystopian delusion
America’s blueprint, based on Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s urban spaces, fragments Gaza into seven discontinuous “residential areas” separated by “parks, agriculture and sports facilities”. This echoes Israel’s “Five Finger” strategy to fragment and control the Strip, and reduces Gaza’s total area through the formalisation of an Israeli-controlled sterile buffer zone along its borders with Israel and Egypt.
The plan also disregards the historic, cultural and social fabric of Gaza: the Old City of Gaza, home to the Great Omari Mosque and ancient churches, is slated to become an “industrial complex”. The fertile agricultural lands of Beit Lahiya, once known for its strawberries, and dense refugee camps like Shati and Jabalia, are designated for data centres and parks that have no connection to existing communities. Gaza was once Palestine’s economic engine; Trump’s plan transforms it into a free-market economy in which the local (and traumatised) population is relegated to cheap labour for foreign corporations.
Meanwhile, the zone designated for Gaza’s two million Palestinians will be significantly reduced, with no regard for private property rights. The plan’s 180 tourist beachfront towers would cut off Palestinian coastal access and bulldoze homes, hospitals and universities.. According to US plans, Gaza’s new residential neighbourhoods—termed “alternative safe communities”—would be heavily surveilled, with residents subject to biometric monitoring and vetting by Israel. These echo plans developed by US-Israeli security contractors for highly securitised “gated communities” or “humanitarian/security bubbles”—which even former Israeli prime ministers Yair Lapid and Ehud Olmert have labelled as “concentration camps”.
Gaza’s oligarchic bonanza
The US and Israel are proposing a prototype “community” vision in eastern Gaza, “New Rafah”, to be constructed on the remains of Rafah, a town bordering Egypt now controlled by Israel and its Palestinian proxy groups. Meanwhile, Hamas-controlled western Gaza, where most Palestinians are located, would be left as a “permanent refugee camp in ruins” until Hamas and other armed groups are disarmed.
Trump’s Gaza plan alludes to “amazing investment opportunities” for private businesses. Several businessmen have secured seats on the BoP’s executive committee and Israel reports interest from American billionaires like Larry Ellison and Peter Thiel “who are looking for new tax-free areas and simple regulation” with cheap labour. Another group of American contractors, the Alligator Alcatraz team, also says it will “secure 300% profits” thanks to an “inside track” to the Trump administration.
The US is considering staffing the International Stabilization Force in Gaza with private contractors; the BoP is engaged in talks with the North Carolina-based UG Solutions to provide security contractors for an unspecified future role in Gaza. The company has been blamed for the killing of Gazan aid seekers at the heavily criticised Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites that were previously dotted across Gaza.
Europe’s next steps
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Empowering Palestinians
Placing vast, unsupervised reconstruction funds and contracting decisions under the control of politicians and financiers risks profiteering and graft at the expense of a vulnerable population. If Gaza’s reconstruction is not funded by donor governments with a positive vision for Gaza, Trump will likely resort to the private sector—risking a catastrophic future for Gaza.
To prevent this, and perhaps prompt Washington to rethink its disturbing vision, Europeans—alongside key partners like Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey—need to present a political and financial counter-offer that respects Palestinian needs. This should begin with Europeans committing to immediate humanitarian priorities: clearing rubble, restoring basic services, building temporary shelter and—unlike Trump’s offering—letting Palestinian property owners decide how to rebuild their homes. These immediate needs cannot be conditioned on Hamas’s disarmament, which will invariably require a long-term political process that includes Israeli steps in support of Palestinian rights and de-occupation.
But Israel also needs to commit to a full withdrawal in order for Gaza to function without restrictions on its organic economic activities, such as agriculture, trade, fishing, handcrafts and tourism. Israel’s naval, ground and aerial blockades have killed Gaza’s fishing industry and strangled its export and import markets; Israel’s arbitrary “dual use” list for Gaza—in existence since before October 7th 2023—has been expanded to include items vital for sustaining life in challenging conditions.
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Advancing Palestinian reunification
Ultimately, reconstruction should be used to assert Palestinian sovereignty and advance national re-unification. While Europeans need to pressure Israel to end its restrictions, they also need to push to reconnect Gaza’s economy with that of the West Bank—an indispensable step in support of Gaza’s sustainable re-development.
They should also capitalise on close diplomatic coordination with Arab partners—particularly Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey—to advocate for US acceptance of meaningful Palestinian buy-in as a condition for their funding, including a greater role for the Palestinian Authority (PA). Together, Europe and these allies should highlight their commitment to Gaza’s reconstruction and show Trump why securing Palestinian ownership is essential to the sustainability of his 20-point plan.
Europeans need to emphasise that reconstruction can be a means to empower non-Hamas governance and counter Israeli efforts to marginalise Palestinian decision-making. Their immediate focus should be on strengthening the capacity of the Palestinian National Committee for Administration of Gaza to represent and defend Palestinian interests in relation to Gaza’s future. Until now, this role has fallen to Hamas. But the committee will not have sufficient legitimacy if it acts alone.
European and Arab donors should encourage a Palestinian national consensus on how to redevelop Gaza. This will invariably need to be underpinned and supported by a cross-factional agreement between Hamas—which still exercises de facto control in Gaza—and Fatah, which controls the PA. Holding Palestinian municipal elections when conditions allow is another way to strengthen Palestinian agency at a local level, pending the full return of the PA.
In the meantime, European and Arab donors should also look to increase buy-in from Palestinian civil society, including Gaza’s Chamber of Commerce. This would ensure that any reconstruction plan has input from as many Palestinian entities as possible; not just political factions, but also civil society. An example is the Phoenix Plan, which was created by Palestinian civil society and municipalities for Gaza’s reconstruction.
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Leverage funding
On funding, Europeans are rightly wary of channelling their financial support through the BoP and should instead work with the World Bank to directly fund redevelopment projects. This could be achieved via the creation of a trust fund managed by European and Arab states, including the State of Palestine or the PA.
Such a mechanism would ensure that every dollar is accountable to the people it is meant to serve, rather than to foreign political interests or private profiteers. This approach would safeguard against corruption and the weaponisation of aid, ensuring that funding flows according to need, and not political leverage or financial interests.
Principle over pricing
Overall, Europeans need to signal to Washington that their money comes with principles as well as conditions. Kushner and Trump’s new plan for Gaza means European and Arab leaders face a reckoning: do they believe that Gaza belongs to the Palestinians who have lived there for generations? Or to the foreign powers and profiteers looking to gain from its ruin? Europe’s answer to these questions can salvage Gaza’s future.