"At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last month, Jared Kushner, billionaire real estate scion and son-in-law to United States President Donald Trump, presented his vision of a New Gaza: glittering skyscrapers, waterfront tourism and a logistical corridor connecting a demilitarised enclave to the world."
"According to the United Nations, 92 percent of Gaza has been destroyed during Israel's more than two-year genocidal war, and the cost of its rebuilding is estimated at $70bn. Yet analysts and urban planners warned that Gaza's reconstruction is being designed not to restore Palestinian life but to re-engineer it turning the basic human right of shelter into a tool of political extortion and alleged demographic change."
"Reconstruction is not the day after' the war; it is the continuation of war by bureaucratic and economic means, Ihab Jabareen, a researcher specialising in Israeli affairs, told Al Jazeera. Jabareen argued that for the Israeli security establishment, reconstruction is the ultimate bargaining chip, allowing Israel to move from a strategy of direct military occupation to one of sovereignty by flow."
An envisioned New Gaza promises skyscrapers, waterfront tourism and a logistical corridor to a demilitarised enclave while no reconstruction has begun on the ground. Gaza's destruction now measures in debris — about 61 million tonnes — with nearly 92 percent of the territory razed and rebuilding costs estimated at $70bn. Ceasefires have reduced air strikes but killings continue, creating a quieter phase of war. Access to cement and steel rods remains blocked. Reconstruction is being used to re-engineer Palestinian life, turning shelter into political extortion and a mechanism for alleged demographic change by controlling materials and flows.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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