By Newsroom
Copyright philenews
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the Gaza Strip could become a “real estate bonanza” and claimed he is discussing plans with the United States to divide the territory after the war, despite international condemnation of such proposals, according to a BBC report.
Speaking at a Tel Aviv event, Smotrich said, “A business plan is on President Trump’s table,” and added, “We’ve done the demolition phase… Now we need to build”.
The remarks reference previous proposals that would involve the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, violating international law. Both the US and Israel have described any population movement as “voluntary” emigration.
In February, Donald Trump suggested the US could take “a long-term ownership position” over Gaza, describing it as potentially the “Riviera of the Middle East“.
Palestinians, Arab states and the international community roundly rejected the plan.
Trump later appeared to distance himself from the idea, calling it in July “a concept that was really embraced by a lot of people, but also some people didn’t like it”.
However, the Washington Post reported earlier this month that a version of the proposal remains under discussion. The plan would establish Gaza as a US-administered trusteeship for at least a decade whilst developing it into a tourism resort and high-tech manufacturing hub.
Israel’s military campaign has caused widespread destruction across Gaza. The United Nations estimates 92 per cent of housing units have been damaged or destroyed, 91 per cent of schools require full reconstruction and 86 per cent of cropland is damaged.
“We paid a lot of money for this war,” Smotrich said. “So we need to divide how we make a percentage on the land marketing later”.
The UN estimated in February that reconstructing the territory would cost $53.2 billion over 10 years.
Smotrich leads Israel’s Religious Zionist party and has been sanctioned by Britain and other countries over repeated incitements of violence against Palestinians. He controls planning in the West Bank and has repeatedly pushed expansionist policies.
In late August, he unveiled proposals for annexing approximately four-fifths of the West Bank, saying the plan would apply “Israeli sovereignty” to roughly 82 per cent of the territory according to the principle of “maximum land with minimum Arabs”.
Israel has built approximately 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews since occupying the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East war. An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them. The settlements are illegal under international law.
Israel launched its Gaza war following the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 others taken hostage.
At least 65,062 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since then, almost half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
This week, a UN commission of inquiry concluded that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, an allegation the Israeli government strongly denied.
Experts, governments, United Nations agencies, and non-governmental organisations have accused Israel of carrying out genocide against the Palestinian people.
(information from The BBC)
