The Gaza Takeover Plan

The POTUS Donald Trump's AI-generated video showed Gaza as a luxury resort, with a golden statue of Trump, American and Israeli leaders relaxing on a beach, bearded and bikini-clad belly dancers, a child holding a golden balloon shaped like Trump's head, Elon Musk dancing on a beach under a shower of US dollars, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sipping drinks on a beach; all with a background voice cooing "No more tunnels, no more fear", "Donald's coming to set you free",  "Trump’s Gaza is finally here", "Trump’s Gaza shining bright. Golden future, a brand-new light. Feast and dance. The deed is done."

The video promoting Trump’s plan to expel 2.1 million Palestinians and transform Gaza into a US-owned ‘Riviera’ attracted plenty of condemnation, especially by the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, but some responses were humorous also. One comment termed it fantasies of a grownup Dennis the Menace. Another found it similar to Trump visiting Pyongyang during his first presidency and showing a video to President Kim Jong Un how he would modernize North Korea if the country gave up its nuclear weapons, while Kim looked quite amused.

Israel admits that the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 was possible due to overconfidence of Israeli Defence Forces (IDF). But a view in 2023 also was that with well-publicized attack rehearsals of Hamas, Israel’s hierarchy was aware of the attack coming, but deliberately did not warn the border units, to facilitate full-scale invasion of Gaza. Israel’s media also reported that considerable number of Israeli casualties that day were because of an IDF helicopter firing where a music concert was in progress.  

Qatar as the venue for Israel-Hamas peace talks is ironic as Qatar has been funding Hamas over the past decades. In fact, previous Netanyahu governments allowed its territory for bags of Qatari money to reach Hamas.  In 1997, the US banned Hamas, the Palestine liberation Front (PLF), Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ), Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the PFLF-General Command (PFLF-GC). But now America is holding direct talks with Hamas.  

Gaza peace has little chance of success because of multiple reasons. Over 46,000 Palestinians (44% women and children) have been killed by Israel already, who certainly are not all Hamas. The Gaza-based Palestinian Authority wants a permanent ceasefire, which Israel refuses – with the obvious intention to continue offensive operations once all Israeli hostages are released, which Hamas realizes.  Israel continues to block all aid and is cutting off electricity to Gaza. 

Even before Trump won his second presidency, Netanyahu wanted Palestinians to vacate Gaza and move into refugee camps in Egypt. Egypt closed its border crossing with Israel but later opened it for aid convoys. Israel continues to attack the West Bank. The recent repositioning of Egyptian troops in the Sinai Peninsula has raised Israeli concerns.

Trump has been insisting Palestinians should vacate Gaza, relocate to Jordan/Egypt, and they will not be allowed to return to Gaza. Trump’s direct talk with the King of Jordan on the issue didn’t yield results that Trump wanted. The King responded by saying he would accept 5,000 children who are sick. Egypt rejected the Trump proposal. After widespread condemnation by America’s Arab allies, with some terming it “ethnic cleansing” in complete contradiction to international norms and conventions, Trump said it was just a “suggestion”. But Netanyahu said he would make Gaza available to the US.

Yar Lapid, Israel’s opposition leader, proposed that Egypt be given control of Gaza from 8-15 years and Egypt can head a peace force in partnership with Gulf states and the international community for managing and rebuilding Gaza; in exchange to international community and regional allies paying off Egypt’s USD 155 billion external debt. Lapid hasn’t called for Palestinians removed from Gaza. Cairo rejected the plan because Lapid hadn’t consulted Egypt.

At a recent summit in Cairo, Arab countries approved Egypt’s USD 53b billion plan to rebuild Gaza (in 3-5 years) in three phases; initial phase focusing on cleaning debris/unexploded ordnance, and next two phases focusing on rebuilding housing and bigger construction projects. The plan includes: infrastructure projects (homes, an airport, a seaport); Hamas to cede power to a committee of politically independent technocrats; Palestinians housed in temporary housing during reconstruction phase; UN peacekeeping force in Gaza and occupied West Bank; Egypt-Jordan to train Palestinian police force; two-state solution endorsed.

The UN-EU supported Egypt’s proposal but the US and Israel rejected the plan outright, with Trump threatening Hamas to release all hostages or it is over for them. But without a plan satisfying both Israel and Hamas, including who will eventually rebuild and govern Gaza, any ceasefire (temporary or otherwise) can hardly work out. China has expressed that they are against the forced vacation of Gazans. The most important question is when the US and Israel are vehemently opposed to the two-state solution, where is the scope of discussing another plan? India and Israel are closest allies, especially in terms of defence cooperation, but India supports the two-state solution. India has not yielded to Israeli pressure to brand Hamas a terrorist organisation. The Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) has been attacking for the past several decades, but Israel branded LeT terrorists only after Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023.

Are the US and Israel fixated on Gaza only because of Hamas, knowing terrorism is an ideology and no terrorist organization in the world has been wiped out – be it Al Qaeda. ISIS, Taliban or whatever. In fact, America’s deep state is behind these organizations continuing to thrive. Also, Hamas capabilities have been substantially crippled according to Israeli sources. What else is the reason that the US so desperately wants Gaza? 

The area in question is rich in oil (1.5 billion barrels) and natural gas (1.4 trillion cubic feet); the Occupied Palestinian Territory lies above sizable reserves of oil and gas, in areas of West bank and the Mediterranean coast off the Gaza Strip. In 1999, Palestine signed a deal with British Gas just off the Gaza coast and two wells were drilled (Gaza Marine 1 and 2) with a gas deposit value estimated between USD 2 billion and USD 6 billion.

In 2007, Hamas came to power in Gaza and Israel launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip, eliminating 1,400 Palestinians and taking the gas fields. Within one year, Israel announced discovery of the Leviathan gas field, which did include Gaza’s fields; all in all valued at USD 453 billion – denying Palestinians USD 47 billion in revenue. This was a historical moment when Israel became a significant player in the global energy market, with Israel for the first time to export Israeli natural gas to Europe, as mentioned by Karine Elharrar, Israel’s Energy Minister 2021-2022.

In 2022, Iranian oil and gas were sanctioned. Syrian oil fields were occupied by US troops. Israel bombed Syria’s key ports of Latakia and Beirut; gateway to the Middle East. With its massive oil reserves, working ports and American blessings. Israel became the answer to Europe’s energy problems. The US Congress saw Israeli energy in the highest national security interests of the US – with Israel providing a window into Europe.

For the US, another exciting prospect is a 256 km long sea-level canal across Israel using nuclear excavation, connecting the Mediterranean to the Gulf of Aqaba (and the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean) as a strategic alternative to the Suez Canal. Presently, 2.8 million barrels of oil (8% of global LNG), as also 50 ships carrying USD 9 billion worth cargo (12% of global trade) pass through Suez Canal every day. Recalling the 1960s, the US contemplated using 520 nukes on parts of Israel to build a 260 km long canal, starting from the Red Sea at the Port of Ala, running through the negative desert and pouring into the Mediterranean right next to Northern Gaza, which is currently being bombed and depopulated. The US and Israel perhaps want to sideline Egypt and the Suez Canal. 

There is speculation now that Egypt is considering taking Palestinian in refugees in exchange for debt relief by the US. Israel is focused on expanding its energy empire. According to Israel Katz, current Israeli Defence Minister, “The winning companies have committed to unprecedented investment in natural gas exploration over the next three years, which would hopefully result in the discovery of new natural gas reservoirs.”

Trump is an established businessman, now wanting Greenland plus Canada as the 51st American state, albeit some consider Israel to be always 51st state of the US. Netanyahu is a businessman himself. Readers, therefore, would acknowledge that the issue is not about Hamas alone, it is big oil and gas business that requires kicking out Palestinians from the area.

The author is an Indian Army veteran. Views expressed are personal.