The Arab states have adopted the Gaza reconstruction plan in Egypt, offering a potential path after the devastating war of Israel against the Palestinian enclave.
Egypt unveiled its plan on Tuesday while organizing a summit of the Arab League in its capital of Cairo.
The plan offers an alternative to the suggestion of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, that the Gaza Strip is depopulated in order to “develop” the enclave, under American control, in what criticisms have called ethnic cleaning. As part of the Egyptian plan, the Palestinian population of Gaza would not be forced to leave the territory.
Trump had insisted that Egypt and Jordan take the Palestinians forced to leave Gaza by his plan, but it was quickly rejected, and the United States pointed out that it was open to hearing what an Arab Plan for the post-war reconstruction of Gaza would be.
Speaking at the start of the summit, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sissi said Trump would be able to achieve peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Here is all that you need to know about the plan, based on the own reports of Al Jazeera, as well as on the plan projects of the plan reported by the Reuters news agency and the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram.
What does the Egyptian plan provide?
The plan consists of three major stages: provisional measures, reconstruction and governance.
The first step would last about six months while the following two phases would take place over four to five years combined. The objective is to rebuild Gaza – which Israel has almost completely destroyed – maintaining peace and security and reaffirming the governance of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Gaza, 17 years after its expulsion after the fights between Fatah, which dominates AP and Hamas.
How does the plan aims to rebuild Gaza?
An intermediary period of six months would require a committee of Palestinian technocrats – operating under the direction of the AP – to clean the rubble of rue Salah al -Din, which is the main North -South road of the Gaza Strip.
Once the roads are clear, 200,000 temporary homes are built to accommodate 1.2 million people and around 60,000 damaged buildings restored.
According to the plan, the longer -term reconstruction requires four to five additional years after the end of the provisional measures. During this period, the plan aims to build at least 400,000 permanent houses, as well as to rebuild the sea port and Gaza International Airport.
Little by little, basic provisions such as water, a waste system, telecommunications and electricity services would also be restored.
The plan also calls for the creation of an egg and management council, which would be a financial fund supporting the director interval in Gaza.
In addition, conferences will take place to international donors in order to provide the funding necessary for long -term reconstruction and development in the band.
Who would be in charge of Gaza?
The plan calls for a group of “independent Palestinian technocrats” to manage business in Gaza, in fact replacing Hamas.
The technocratic government would be responsible for supervising humanitarian aid and paving the way to AP to administer Gaza, according to El-Sissi.
The plan does not mention the elections, but, speaking at the Tuesday summit, the president of the AP, Mahmoud Abbas, said that an election could take place next year if the circumstances allowed.
In terms of security, Egypt and Jordan have both promised to train Palestinian police officers and deploy them in Gaza. The two countries also called on the United Nations Security Council to consider authorizing a peacekeeping mission to supervise governance in Gaza until the end of reconstruction.
How much will it cost?
Egypt calls $ 53 billion to finance the reconstruction of Gaza, with the money distributed on three phases.
During the first phase of six months, it would cost $ 3 billion to erase the rubble from rue Salah al-Din, build temporary housing and restore partially damaged houses.
The second phase would take two years and cost $ 20 billion. Declining work is continuing in this phase, as well as the creation of public service networks and the construction of more housing.
Phase three would cost $ 30 billion and take two and a half years. It would include the creation of housing for the entire population of Gaza, the establishment of the first phase of an industrial zone, the fishing building and commercial ports and the construction of an airport, among other services.
According to the plan, money will come from various international sources, including United Nations and international financial organizations as well as investments in the foreign and private sector.
Will the plan work?
There are still a number of variables that could complicate the plan. Perhaps more importantly, it is not clear if Hamas, Israel or the United States will accept it.
Hamas has welcomed the reconstruction plan and has already accepted a technocratic government. But it is less clear if it will accept the return of the AP, which itself would face the perception of its detractors that it returned to Gaza at the back of the Israeli tanks. And Hamas can be willing to discuss its withdrawal from governance, but is categorically against its disarmament – something that the Egyptian plan adopted by the Arab League has not discussed.
Israel clearly indicated that it is a red line, and that Hamas will not be allowed to keep its weapons. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said that he will not allow the AP to return to Gaza.
In his response to the adoption of the Egyptian plan, Israel said that the Arab states should “free themselves from past constraints and collaborate to create a future of stability and security in the region”. The declaration of the Israeli Foreign Affairs has rather supported the Trump Gaza travel plan – which echoes a long -standing call from the Israeli far right to depopulate Gaza.
There is also the question of whether the American president Trump will abandon his idea of a “riviera of the Middle East” controlled in the United States for the Egyptian plan. It is difficult to predict what will be Trump’s position, especially if Israel signals his opposition to the Egyptian plan.
