BENJAMIN Netanyahu shared a detailed vision for Gaza just months before Donald Trump unveiled controversial plans for the enclave.
Complete with surreal CGI imagery, the Israeli PM revealed a blueprint to redevelop Gaza into an idyllic urban and rural settlement.
The suggestion is reminiscent of Trump’s idea to transform Gaza into “the Riviera of the Middle East,” which was revealed recently during a press briefing where Netanyahu stood beside him.
There is speculation that Trump might have been presented with this Gaza plan, along with a document put together by Joseph Pelzman, a professor at George Washington University. The report was shared with the president’s advisors in the previous year.
Nadav Shtrauchler, a former strategist for Netanyahu, told The Sun: “I think it’d been shown to Trump one way or another.
“Trump didn’t wake up in the morning and come up with the idea, there would have been routes to this, probably from Israel – it was planted somehow.”
The ambitious concept, named “Gaza 2035,” that potentially influenced Trump envisions the area filled with modern high-rise buildings and a 132-mile railway connecting to NEOM, a hypothetical $500 billion city in Saudi Arabia.
War-torn Gaza would be transformed from a terrorism hotbed to a glistening gem in the Middle East landscape.
The proposal promised “US dominance” and to deliver Gaza “from crisis to prosperity” by rebuilding the enclave “from nothing”.
Ultra-modern mocked-up images show the strip as a utopian region, rich in high-tech projects and direct connections to other countries.
The ultimate goal would be to turn Gaza into a self-governing free trade zone with offshore oil rigs and solar energy fields in three brief but concise steps.
In the first part of the plan, Israel would spend 12 months ensuring the region free of Hamas to create a “safe zone” – starting in the north and working down to the south.
Arab countries including Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE would be involved in supervising humanitarian aid – managed by Palestinians from Gaza.
The second phase – pinned to last between five and ten years – would see a coalition of Arab countries form a multilateral body called the Gaza Rehabilitation Authority.
Officials from these nations would “supervise” Gaza’s reconstruction efforts and manage the strip’s finances.
A “Marshall Plan” would be implemented – reminiscent of the American programme for the reconstruction of Europe after World War Two.
In the final stage of the scheme, Palestinians will govern the strip independently after signing the Abraham Accords.
Netanyahu avoided commenting on Gaza’s future for months, but was handed the proposal late in 2023.
It was drawn up by a group of businessmen who are mostly Israeli – and close to the PM.
By May 2024, Netanyahu circulated the proposal after it was examined by his inner government circle.
Netanyahu has been working on a vision for Gaza behind the scenes and it is understood his input influenced Trump’s announcement
During Netanyahu’s visit to Washington last week Trump proposed the US takeover Gaza and that the two million Palestinians living there be resettled elsewhere.
Where would Palestinians relocate to?
DONALD Trump said two million Palestinians would have to leave Gaza before it could be redeveloped.
He said those displaced would go to “various domains” – including Egypt and Jordan.
Both countries and other Arab nations have rejected this notion.
Suggestions have also been made that Palestinians could be resettled in Ireland.
Israel’s defence minister last week tabled the idea of taking tens of thousands of Palestinians out of Gaza by air and sea.
Israel Katz said Ireland, Spain and Norway – which last year recognised a Palestinian state – would be “legally obligated” to take displaced Gaza residents.
He said: “Countries like Spain, Ireland, Norway, and others, which have levelled accusations and false claims against Israel over its actions in Gaza, are legally obligated to allow any Gaza resident to enter their territories.”
Dr Kobby Barda told The Sun: “There are 150,00 ghost houses in Ireland.
“If you have a ghost house where no one is living, you need to pay tax to the government.
“There will be no problem for Israel to get them to Ben Gurion airport, and put them on a plane and fly them over to Dublin.”
Ireland’s foreign minister Simon Harris hit back at Katz’s remarks, branding them “unhelpful and provocative”.
Calling the strip a “demolition site”, the president said the region could be turned into a “Middle East Riviera” under US control.
PAIRS Foundation CEO Seth Eisenberg, who has known Netanyahu for more than four decades, said: “I imagine the idea to significantly redevelop Gaza came from both the Israeli Prime Minister and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law.”
Trump’s shock announcement has become a worldwide talking point – with multiple countries describing the plan as “dangerous”.
It would shatter decades of US foreign policy which has emphasised a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians.
But Trump doubled down on his vision – calling it a “beautiful real estate plan” and a “development for the future”.
And Netanyahu praised his ally’s scheme as the “first original idea to solve this problem once and for all”.
He told Breitbart News: “It’s a compelling vision to solve the problem when nothing else has worked.”
Trump’s proposal may also have been inspired by Professor Pelzman’s 49-page report titled “An Economic Plan for Rebuilding Gaza: A BOT Approach”.
Pelzman – who cofounded The Center of Excellence for the Economic Study of the Middle East and North Africa – shared his paper with Trump’s team last July.
In his report, American-Israeli academic Pelzman claims the war has offered an “opportunity for a new and fresh approach to an old problem”.
Much of Gaza has been reduced to rubble from Israeli bombardment after Netanyahu vowed to wipe out Hamas in revenge for the terror proxy’s October 7 atrocity.
Pelzman suggests creating three 4km buffer zones with Israel and Egypt.
High-rise housing would take up the eastern side of the strip, while the western side facing the Mediterranean would be reserved for “seafront property”.
Agricultural areas and greenhouses would fill the space in the between – with everything built after Gaza is “completely emptied out”.
Trump is understood to have called Netanyahu about the plan – telling the Israeli PM the enclave is a “prime piece of real estate”.
Trump’s golden pager
BENJAMIN Netanyahu gifted Donald Trump a golder pager during his visit to the White House.
In a nod to the deadly pager attack on Hezbollah in September, the bleeper comes with instructions to “press with both hands”.
A small placard on the bottom says: “To President Donald J. Trump, our greatest friend and greatest ally.”
Trump thanked Netanyahu for the symbolic gift and praised the “grand” operation.
Netanyahu’s office said the gift “symbolizes the Prime Minister’s decision that led to a turning point in the war and the starting point for breaking the will of the terrorist organization Hezbollah”.
Dr Kobby Barda first shared Pelzman’s plan on social media and met with him to discuss it on his podcast.
Pelzman said: “I figured why don’t I write sort of an out-of-the-box perspective on how to fix Gaza after the war is finished.
“The paper went to the Trump people because they were the ones who had an interest in it, not the Biden people.”
Historian Dr Barda, who was previously the deputy director general at Israel’s tourism ministry, told The Sun: “I’ve been sharing this plan for more than half a year.
“At first, people thought as was crazy and laughed at me and told me to get my brain examined.
“I was overwhelmed with the very firm foundations of Professor Pelzman and his programme that I said if Trump is elected, then I believe it will move forward.”
During his announcement last week, Trump said the US would “take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it too”.
“We’ll own it,” he said, adding that two million Palestinians would be relocated to countries including Egypt and Jordan
But he later reiterated that America would not be investing any money – nor boots on the ground.
Trump has long taken interest in the Middle East and during his first presidency unveiled a plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
He released the economic part of the plan, titled Peace to Prosperity in June 2019, followed by the political portion in January 2020.
Netanyahu was again by Trump’s side as he revealed the proposal, which was authored by the Republican’s son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner.
It laid out a “vision to improve the lives of the Palestinian and Israeli people”.
The 181-page dossier included a section touting Gaza as a potential “successful global tourism destination”.
It reads: “Over 40km of coastline in Gaza along the Mediterranean Sea could develop into a modern metropolitan city overlooking the
beach.
“To unlock the benefits of increased tourism in the West Bank and Gaza, this project will support investment in hotels, food and beverage establishments, and other tourism-related industries.
“Additional funding will be used to improve hospitality training and to renovate and upgrade tourist sites.”
