The US Has Outsourced Its Gaza Policy to Israel
Bird’s-eye and worm’s-eye views suggest that the Trump administration has no plan for the Palestinians, except to let Netanyahu do whatever he wants.
Allow me to explain your policy ...
Photographer: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Can this be serious? When US President Donald Trump mused in February that he could turn the wretched rubble of the Gaza Strip into a glittering Riviera, those familiar with the torturous conflict between Palestinians and Israelis rolled their eyes and hoped that this figment too would pass. Now, though, the Riviera idea is back, apparently on the advice of people like Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, and Tony Blair, a former British prime minister.
It’s circulating in Washington in the form of a presentation in the style that you’d expect in the world of real-estate development, the natural habitat of Kushner, Trump and Steve Witkoff, the president’s “special envoy” to the Middle East and other places. In a draft seen by the Washington Post, the Gaza Strip would pass into an Orwellian-sounding GREAT Trust (for Gaza Reconstruction, Economic Acceleration and Transformation). This trust would beautify that land of misery into a gleaming hub for tourism, tech and commerce.