Egypt’s Gaza reconstruction plan adopted in Arab states’ summit
DOHA/CAIRO — Arab leaders adopted an Egyptian reconstruction plan for Gaza on Tuesday that would cost $53 billion and avoid displacing Palestinians from the enclave, in contrast to US President Donald Trump’s “Middle East Riviera” vision.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said the proposal, welcomed in subsequent statements by Hamas and criticized by Israel, had been accepted at the closing of a summit in Cairo.
Sisi said at the summit that he was certain Trump would be able to achieve peace in the conflict that has devastated the Gaza Strip.
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 reconstruction.
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 after the end of the war.
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.
Hamas agreeable
The other critical issue is the fate of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, the PA’s rival, which triggered the Gaza war by attacking Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
The Islamist faction that has run Gaza since 2007 said in a statement it agrees to the Egyptian committee proposal.
Hamas has agreed it will not field candidates to the Cairo-proposed committee but it would have to give its consent to the tasks, members and the agenda of the committee that would work under the PA’s supervision.
Elections after 20 years
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said late on Tuesday the names for the individuals participating in the committee had been decided.
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.
Hamas said it welcomed the elections.
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.
The Israeli foreign ministry in a statement called the plan “rooted in outdated perspectives” and rejected the reliance on the PA while complaining that Hamas was left in power by the plan.
