Experts consider the circulating White House plan to develop a "Gaza Riviera" as a series of high-tech mega-cities to be a "mad" attempt to cover up the widespread ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population.
The Washington Post published a leaked memo of the plan on Sunday, which includes the forced displacement of Gaza's two million residents and placing the territory under American trusteeship for at least a decade.
This plan, dubbed the "Gaza Reconstruction and Economic Acceleration and Transformation Fund" - or the "Great Fund" - was reportedly devised by some Israelis themselves who established and launched the U.S. and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), with financial planning from the Boston Consulting Group and the Trump administration, which provided the foundation with $30 million. The most controversial aspect is that the 38-page plan proposes what it calls the "temporary relocation of all residents of Gaza, numbering over two million," a proposal that would amount to ethnic cleansing, and possibly genocide.
According to the plan, Palestinians will be encouraged to leave "voluntarily" to another country or to designated safe zones during the reconstruction. The trust fund will provide a "digital token" to landowners in exchange for redevelopment rights to their properties, to be used to finance a new life elsewhere.
The remaining residents will be housed in properties of just 323 square feet - a minuscule space even by the standards of many non-refugee homes in Gaza.
It is unclear whether the plan reflects U.S. policy. However, the offering memorandum seems to reflect Donald Trump's previously stated ambition to "cleanse" and redevelop Gaza. Among the critics of the leaked memo is Philip Grant, executive director of "Trail International," a Switzerland-based human rights organization, who described the plan as a "scheme for mass deportation, marketed as development."
Grant stated, "This is a scheme for mass deportation, marketed as development. The result? A typical case of international crimes on an unimaginable scale: forced population transfer, demographic engineering, and collective punishment."
It is noted that "Trail International" is one of fifteen organizations that have previously warned that private contractors operating in Gaza in cooperation with the Israeli government risk "aiding and abetting or complicity in crimes under international law, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide," and that they could be held accountable under multiple jurisdictions.
Grant added, "Those involved in planning and executing such a plan - including corporate actors - may face legal liability for decades to come." Even in Israeli media, the proposal has raised eyebrows, with an article in the left-leaning Haaretz describing it as a "Trumpian scheme for quick wealth based on war crimes, artificial intelligence, and tourism."
The offering memorandum appears to be a flight of fancy, crafted by individuals with no practical knowledge of Gaza or Middle Eastern politics or the potential challenges of attempting to rebuild the sector as a multi-billion-dollar tourism and technology hub that would inevitably compete with Israel.
The plan, which does not require any American funding and is intended to be financed by investors up to $100 billion, envisions a bustling coastal city divided by a waterway and bordered by up to eight giant high-tech cities planned with artificial intelligence, similar to the stalled Saudi Neom project.
The plan also envisions the creation of an industrial zone in the style of "Elon Musk's" fantasies located on the ruins of the Erez industrial area, which was built with Israeli investments to exploit cheap labor in the Palestinian territories, then closed and destroyed by Israeli forces.
Examining the map suggests that the plan will also involve the confiscation of a large portion of Gaza's agricultural land, which often lies in the outskirts of Gaza near the border with Israel, for the benefit of an Israeli security buffer zone.
However, the fine print is highly condemnatory, as it does not distinguish in terms of sovereignty between Gaza and Israel and Egypt, indicating a disregard for the Palestinians' right to self-determination. Under the plan, Israel will retain "comprehensive rights" vaguely defined over Gaza "to meet its security needs." There will be no Palestinian state, but rather a "Palestinian political system" joining the Abraham Accords brokered by Trump. The language used in the offering memo, and the description of many features, seems aimed at exploiting the egos of Trump, Musk, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, after whom the security ring surrounding Gaza is named.
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The leaked "Gaza Riviera" plan, a "crazy" attempt to cover up ethnic cleansing.