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Order Michael Finch’s new book, A Time to Stand: HERE. Prof. Jason Hill calls it “an aesthetic and political tour de force.”
Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff have been busy planning Gaza’s future — when the hurly-burly’s done, when the battle’s lost and won — and they see the Strip as a “glittering metropolis,” both a tourist destination and a center for high-end high-tech businesses. If this sounds crazy, it’s because it is crazy. More on their view of the future of Gaza can be found here: “Trump admin. pitches ‘Project Sunrise’ to turn Gaza into ‘futuristic coastal destination’ – WSJ,” Jerusalem Post, December 20, 2025:
The WSJ also notes that the presentation doesn’t specify which countries or companies would fund the reconstruction, nor where Gaza’s residents would live during the rebuilding. This has caused some US officials to express doubt about the plan, with some saying that Hamas will refuse to disarm in the first place.
The obvious place for the Gazans to move to during this removal of rubble and then the reconstruction of infrastructure is Egypt’s Sinai, but Egypt refuses to allow Gazans into the country. It doesn’t want two million impoverished Gazans coming through the Rafah Crossing into the Sinai, where Egypt would be responsible for their care and feeding. Egypt is a poor country, but even if rich Arab states were to provide Cairo with enough money to take care of the Gazans, they will remain a troublesome, and potentially dangerous, presence. The Egyptian regime is fearful of Hamas, a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, bringing its ideology into Egypt. Why would Egypt change its position now?
And even when the rubble is removed, Gaza will remain dangerous, given the vast amount of unexploded ordinance that will take years to find and render harmless, and the remaining networks of tunnels that those Hamas holdouts who refuse to surrender may be using? How likely is it that Western tourists will want to visit Gaza, given those dangers? Will Western women be allowed to sunbathe on the beaches of Gaza that Trump promised could be turned into a “Riviera”? Will the Gazans themselves be able to create a safe and carefree ambience for visitors, when they have been taught to regard those possible visitors, Infidels all, as “the most vile of created beings”?
Gaza can be cleared of its rubble, but it will take at least a decade to compete the task; the tunnel network underneath Gaza will make it slow going, as there will be an enhanced danger of the ground over those tunnels collapsing into them, especially with the added weight of the rubble-clearing heavy machinery. And only after the rubble is cleared will some modest reconstruction be possible. Keep in mind the scale of the task in Gaza, where there are now 123,464 destroyed structures out of over 198,000 damaged structures.
Gaza will never be a tourist destination, any more than Libya, or Algeria, or Yemen — all Arab states with even longer coastlines — will ever be such.
Nor will Gaza ever become a “high-tech hub,” any more than the Democratic Republic of Congo will, or Yemen, or Papua New Guinea. The Gazans — there is no way to put this politely — have much lower IQs than the people in Israel, East Asia, Europe, and North America. They should be able to manage small scale manufacturing, textiles and toys, but high-tech is out of the question, unless the Israelis, in a fit of lovingkindness and tikkun olam, decide to “partner” with Gazan Arabs in such enterprises, where Israeli brains can direct Gazan mano d’opera. Could the Gazans, brought up since birth to hate Israelis, submit to being directed by them in such “high-end high-tech” businesses that assorted trumps and witkoffs are predicting will be the future of Gaza? No, of course not.
Trump is whistling in the dark. He refuses to recognize that Hamas has said no, a thousand times no, and instead of disarming, is readying itself both with new recruits, and new weapons supplied by Qatar, to fight against any attempt by anyone to disarm it. If Trump is determined to force Hamas to disarm, he could send American arms and money to the clan-based militias, to help them in their battles throughout Gaza with Hamas. Or he could declare that “because Hamas refuses to disarm, I have told the Israelis that they should no longer feel bound by the ceasefire that was attained in Phase One, and should go after Hamas on both sides of the Yellow Line.” Or he might even have added that “along with the clan-based militias that have been fighting Hamas so bravely, and the IDF forces that are now relieved of having to observe a ceasefire, I will be sending in American airplanes and drones to help reduce Hamas’ forces on the ground to smithereens. I promised I would bring peace to Gaza, and the possibility of prosperity to the Strip, and that’s exactly what I will do.”
H, Fitzgerald’s clarity is manifested in this article. The vision he proposed for Qatar is probably taken as a sign of respect by the other perverse Arab nations in the Middle East. They want to be seen. as normal, positive people by the peoples of the world, even the ones they may threaten. The Middle East Arabs are generally vicious and perverse, but the taquiyya they apply to appear otherwise when it is in their interest to do so is also a reflection of their need to sometimes appear normal, and not bloodthirsty. Trump is a manipulator of people and situations — a master manipulator. “You see how positive I am even towards Hamas, but what can I do guys. Sadly, they have to be wiped off the face of the Earth. I wanted to make them rich, but they are so stubborn (not hateful, not demonic) what can I do other than give Israel the green light to wipe them all out?! I love the Arabs in the Middle East. You can see that. Hamas just can’t seem to agree even with their Arab brothers. I just want you great Arab guys to all be rich. They are standing in the way. Sorry…but…they….have to….go…!”
Trump is behaving as if absolutely clueless and/or so self-absorbed in his flights of fancy that he couldn’t see the truth if it were right in front of him. And the truth IS right in front of him and also behind him for a distance of about 1400 years. I knew the man was a narcissist when I voted for him each time, but this, this I did not expect. Such dangerous and needless stupidity.
“Such dangerous and needless stupidity.” Nothing has been finalized, yet and naysayers at it already, but then from Trump’s history to this date, the world is a better place, than before!!! Prove me wrong???
“Such dangerous and needless stupidity.”, nothing has been finalized and yet the naysayers are already trumpeting, maybe one cannot see until it is done, just like GOD, you have to have faith, and why can this not be so??? From Trumps history of taking on such monumental tasks and accomplishing much to this date, prove it can’t be done!!!
I have little doubt that Trump knows exactly what kind of a sub-human population occupies Gaza. As an offshoot of his negotiating acumen, Trump throws out opening volleys of offers and solutions that are often not his final goal, but just a method he uses to direct the topic to a conclusion he actually favors.
The Arabs of Gaza would scuttle any tourist destination with their stupidity, lawlessness and fanaticism. This is evidenced by data on so-called “Palestinians” in Germany which shows a high percentage of criminality, recidivism, need for welfare, and lack of overall productivity.
Any money that pours into a Gaza rebuilding program will be filched, and behavior against non-muslims will be egregious, unless they are kept under guard by an Arab security force willing to stamp out bad behavior.
The only real solution for a Gaza that could fulfill its promise as a tourist destination would be Israel taking control and shipping the Arabs out, and then engage in an multi-investor development scheme.
It’s clear the author of this article and the few comments I read are not entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs have vision that those who work for them or grumble about them do not have. Anyone can flip a switch and have vision.
If Gaza is back under Israeli control why not turn it into a glittering metropolis,both a tourist destination and a center for high-end high-tech businesses?
There’s the Mediterranean Sea Coast and give it a lift. Make it like Brunei. Have vetted global investors who want nothing more than return on their investment and spectacular place to live and visit? What better way to keep jihad the hell out of the area? A little GODLY vision as President Trump has will create GODLY returns as President Trump has.
Or just sit and grumble grumble grumble toil and fumble – there’s beer and a joint at the end of the day.
A beer and a joint also works for those with GODLY vision.
OK, rebuild Gaza for the people that nobody wants in their country. But NOT ON MY DIME! Let anybody who wants to invest their own money to make a fortune on this very risky venture or lose it all. Just don’t include US taxpayers. We’ve lost too much already on losers.
Gaza is scorched earth. Leave it so.
I am not sure about your assessment of the Gazan IQ. The blueprint for October 7th was the work of a strategist, albeit an evil one. I do think that their emotional IQ is about zilch, though. The major reasons for Gazans’ problems are within Islam itself – first, its emphasis on total submission to a distant, capricious deity, thus sapping the motivation and stamina for which Jewish people, especially, are so remarkable; second, the fact that violent jihadism is a get-rich-quick technique, which provides fortunes for its leaders, through spoils of war, jizya, and battening on non-Muslims through fraud and misappropriation of resources. The diligence and care required to build anything worthwhile would obviously seem an unreasonably punitive slog by comparison. Add in the fact that “martyrdom” is the only route to assurance of salvation, and you have a bunch of people who will be totally resistant to every well-meant project or scheme.
Israel was comprehensively defeated in this war. The goal of the war wasn’t Israel’s annihilation, because that wasnt possible. The goal was to set it up for final defeat by demoralizing it, stripping it of every spare cent it had, dividing Israelis from Israelis, Jews from Israelis and most people from Israelis. Isolated, cut off from all but some Jews and evangelicals, Israel’s political and financial support is nearly gone. Islam is ascendant in America and Jewry is defeated in NYC. . Broke demoralized, with 100,000s of thousands of Israelis leaving the country and isolated, Israel will be attacked 2-3 more times like this over the next 10-15 years and then Israel will be history. Worst of all, leftist Israelis are even more guilty than the Muslims who committed the deed on 10-7.
Any land that has ever had a Muslim foot on it is forever claimed to belong to Islam. You could turn Gaza into a paradise but you would forever have these devils tunnelling in, bombing, shooting, stabing and raping whoever they could find. No one in their right mind would vacation there.
The Gazans will be sent to empty islands in Indonesia, and Indonesia will be given a place in the Ben Gurion Canal Consortium.
Gaza is forfeit.
Witless Witkoff and Kushner are not the right people for the job. They are incapable of understanding the critical nature of the moment. They have no vision. Essentially, they are liberals.
listen up everyone , i am now in charge of gaza . this is the plan . once the barbarians have been removed to somewhere other than gaza i propose that we leave gaza a pile of uninhabitable rubble for 5 yrs. as a memorial to the idf soldiers who gave their lives to save 3/4 of israel , the other 1/4 , the left in israel arent worth saving as they are friends of hamas . it will give the victims and their families , sons and daughters who were murdered time to grieve . once all the vermin in the tunnels have been flushed out, the 2 legged variety blow the lot up . its called victory , anything else is a capitulation to terrorism . dont spend a dime fixing anything that barbarians bought on themselves . there are no innocent barbarians [ formerly known as fakestinians ] .