Musk-tering power

South African multi-billionaire Elon Musk is the most influential civilian in the entourage of Donald Trump who seems unable to say no to his interventions in US foreign and domestic affairs. Musk has even escaped Trump’s ire by dismissing his Gaza plan. By contrast, Trump vented fury on Time magazine for printing covers placing Musk behind the presidential desk in the White House’s Oval Office.  The covers suggest that Musk’s $288 million campaign donation has made him the Rasputin of today. 

Grigory Rasputin was an Orthodox priest who exerted immense power over Alexandra, the last Tsarina of Russia, and her husband Tsar Nicholas who disastrously mismanaged his country’s military during World War I. The couple and their children were arrested in 2017 and executed in 2018.

In mid-January, Musk demonstrated he could avoid being destructive like Rasputin by taking a surprisingly positive line on Gaza. While saying there was “no choice but to eliminate those who wish to eliminate  ...Israel,” naming- Hamas, Musk said there must be a Marshall Plan for Gaza. This would rebuild and “make the Palestinian areas prosperous.” Musk’s proposition contrasted with Trump’s cockeyed declaration that Israel would transfer Gaza to him. The strip’s 2.3 million Palestinians would be ethnically cleansed so Gaza could be developed as a Mediterranean tourist resort accessed by anyone but Gazans.

As co-director of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), Musk and his partner Vivek Ramaswami serve as “outside volunteers not federal officials or employees.” This means both can interfere in external and internal affairs without answering to Congress or the judiciary.  

To prove his intention to mount a Marshall Plan, Musk must end the suspension of $400 million slated for humanitarian and food aid in the Gaza Strip. More will be needed. Since Gazans need shelter while the Marshall Plan is drafted, temporary mobile homes must be imported and accommodation for health care provided as hundreds of doctors and nurses are currently treating patients in tents and schools. Gazans will need treatment for injuries and trauma. Several thousand may have to go abroad for operations and psychiatric help. Many may need long-term or lifelong care.  

Once the plan is finalised, Musk’s first task will be to ensure that the ceasefire ends Israel’s campaign to obliterate Gaza while insisting that Hamas must stand aside and allow a Palestinian technocratic administration to take charge.

Second, Musk must ensure that Israel will not oppose, obstruct, and meddle in implementation of the plan. Since Hamas’ take-over of Gaza in 2007, Israel has waged war on the strip in 2008-2009, 2012, 2014, and 2021 and has done its utmost to interfere in and limit reconstruction. As Israel controls land, air and sea access to Gaza, Israel has imposed limitations and controls on the importation of building materials and machinery, claiming that Hamas would use these goods for military purposes.

Consequently, after these repeated military assaults Gazans could only partially rebuild homes, businesses, and infrastructure. This led Gazans to construct tunnels beneath the Egyptian border to smuggle construction materials and consumer goods banned by Israel. By 2011 there were more than a thousand tunnels and trade was brisk.  Gazans who wanted to repair or build homes could obtain cement and other essential materials while foodstuffs, medical supplies and equipment, clothing, livestock, and vehicles were freely imported through the tunnels which were closed down by the Egyptians in 2013.

Third, since about 70 per cent of Gaza’s structures have been destroyed or damaged, a survey will be needed to decide on what can be repaired and what must be levelled. Gaza’s water and sanitation systems and electricity plants and networks will have to have priority. The UN Development Programme has said rebuilding homes could cost as much as $40 billion and take until 2040 to complete. Gazans do not the luxury of rebuilding over such a long period. They need homes now.

Fourth, Gaza must be cleared of 42 million tonnes of rubble at a cost of $500 million to $600 million. Before tackling this task, Gaza must import deminers and equipment to eliminate unexploded ordnance in the rubble created by Israel’s demolition of Gaza. Once an area is cleared of explosives, experts will have to recover human remains and eliminate toxic materials. Machinery will be needed to remove rubble and lorries to transport it to dumps. Some rubble can be crushed for reuse in buildings of one and two stories (not more) and for roadbeds. Before the war, Gaza had facilities for crushing rubble. I visited one.

Fifth, farmland must be cleared of explosives and toxic waste and restored. Greenhouses must be rebuilt, fields for grazing replanted, and barns and sheds reconstructed and cattle, sheep, goats, horses, and chickens restocked. Before the war, half the food consumed in Gaza was home grown. The other half of farm produce was exported. At one time, Gaza sold cut flowers and early strawberries to Europe.

Who would finance Marshall Plan II? The countries which funded Israel’s war on Gaza. The US has provided Israel with $32.9 billion to turn Gaza into a wasteland and should be responsible for largest proportion of the funding for the Marshall Plan. Germany supplied $453.7 million. France, Britain, India, Canada, Italy, Serbia, and Holland should contribute sums equal to the value of their arms exports to Israel. It should be compelled to pay reparations to Gazans for their human and physical losses.

The objective of the new Marshall Plan — like the original — would be to make Gaza liveable and provide young men with decent careers and living wages so they do not take up arms against Israel. As young women enter the workforce they must be given equal treatment in employment. As a tech-multi billionaire, Musk could invest and encourage investment in Gaza as a hub for regional high-tech development. Gazan youths began to prepare for such a future two decades ago, but war and more war intervened.

Photo: Reuters