Arab summit adopts Egyptian Gaza reconstruction plan

 An Arab summit convened in Cairo on Tuesday adopted an Egyptian plan for the reconstruction of Gaza, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said during a closing statement.

The plan aims to counter President Donald Trump's proposals for a "Middle East Riviera" by presenting a scheme for rebuilding the devastated strip without displacing its population.

Egypt said the reconstruction plan for Gaza would cost $53 billion and avoid resettling Palestinians, in contrast to US President Donald Trump's "Middle East Riviera" vision, according to a copy of the plan.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said at the summit he was certain that Trump would be able to achieve peace on what he referred to as the Palestinian issue.

The major questions that need to be answered about Gaza's future are who will run the enclave and which countries will provide the billions of dollars needed for the reconstruction of the devastated territory.

Sisi said Egypt had worked in cooperation with Palestinians on creating an administrative committee of independent, professional Palestinian technocrats entrusted with the governance of Gaza.

The committee would be responsible for the oversight of humanitarian aid and managing the Strip's affairs for a temporary period, in preparation for the return of the Palestinian Authority (PA), he said.

The other critical issue is the fate of the Palestinian group Hamas, the PA's rival, which triggered the Gaza war by attacking Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads the PA, said he welcomed the Egyptian idea and urged Trump to support such a plan that would not involve displacing Palestinian residents.

Abbas, in power since 2005, also said he was ready to hold presidential and parliamentary elections if circumstances allowed, adding his PA was the only legitimate governing and military force in the Palestinian Territories.

An architect of the 1993 Oslo peace accords with Israel that raised hopes of Palestinian statehood, Abbas has seen his legitimacy steadily undermined by Israeli settlement building in the occupied West Bank, which he oversees. Many Palestinians now regard his administration as corrupt, undemocratic and out of touch.

Any reconstruction funding would require heavy buy-in from Gulf Arab states such as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

The UAE wants an immediate and complete disarmament of the group, while other Arab countries advocate a gradual approach, a source close to the matter said.

Egypt, Jordan and Gulf Arab states have for almost a month been consulting over an alternative to Trump's ambition for an exodus of Palestinians and a US rebuild of Gaza, which they fear would destabilise the entire region.

The draft final communique firmly rejects the mass displacement of Palestinians from Gaza.

Egypt's Reconstruction Plan for Gaza is a 112-page document that includes maps of how its land would be re-developed and dozens of colourful AI-generated images of housing developments, gardens and community centres. The plan includes a commercial harbour, a technology hub, beach hotels and an airport.

The reconstruction vision projects that rebuilding the enclave would take five years and the first two-year phase would cost $20 billion and involve building 200,000 housing units.

Israel was unlikely to oppose an Arab entity taking responsibility for Gaza's government if Hamas was off the scene, said a source familiar with the matter.

Reuters