A Martial Plan For Gaza?

The IDF did a good and proper job in Gaza. Bombing everything possible for a normal, life, we take for granted. Imagine living in a bombed- landscape where everything you ever knew has been destroyed! How many of us would survive and be as resolute as the Gazans?

Those people have lived on their land for a thousand years or more. They have seen powers and empires come and go. From Romans to the Crusaders, to the Ottomans and the British. Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and Israel itself are a mix of people. Those who came to this much-disputed area of the world. Some even carry Jewish DNA probably more than many of those claiming to be Jewish (in Israel) who came from Europe and elsewhere.

The Gazans have just gone through one of the worst genocides the world has ever known. I heard on a Piers Morgan debate that the dead could be as many as 64,000. Palestinians in northern Gaza are returning to nothing, literally, nothing. Hospitals, schools, universities, churches, mosques, etc all gone. Homes and loved ones are gone. Houses are reduced to rubble and the dead are buried under all this. Aid agencies are doing what they can to support these desperate, hardy people. Hamas survived despite facing the full wrath of the Israeli war machine survived. Yes, losing many fighters and two of their main leaders. However, they took with them many IDF operatives too. That certainly doesn't excuse them for what they did on October 7 2023. Right now there we are coming into phase 2 of a ceasefire. Let us hope and pray, for all sides, the ceasefire holds.

One thing that may upset the ceasefire brokered by Trump and Biden is Trump's plan to persuade or force 1 million Gazans from their homes. To be resettled in Egypt or Jordan. However, King Abdullah of Jordan and President Sisi of Egypt have said "No"! Why because they know as the Gazans know, that once they leave that land, they will not be coming back! Also, Jordan and Egypt do not want to have Palestinians launching attacks on Israel from their land. That would mean them getting involved in the politics and combat of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Trump said at a press conference with Netanyahu that the USA would be taking over Gaza. Rebuilding the strip and turning it into a playground for billionaires. Trump said some Gazans could return and find work in this playground for the rich. How kind of Trump to offer jobs to the original inhabitants of this paradise, while they are exiled in surrounding nations! Even Netanyahu a wanted war criminal raised an eyebrow when Trump said this!

Trump in a sense, is correct when he says those Gazans are living in hell. Made worse by the war that has lasted from October 7 2023 until now. As good as it sounds to evacuate people from a hell hole like Gaza for a better life in Egypt and Jordan under international law to remove people against their will is a crime. This announcement by Trump stirred up outrage not only in the US but also around the globe. Sir Keir Starmer said despite Trump's announcement he begged to differ with his US counterpart. Stating that the UK still backed a two-state solution.

Trump wants an Abraham Accord 2.0 to get Israel and Saudi Arabia to be friends. However, Trump may have to forego or water down his proposed plan. The Saudi reservation on any peace deal with Israel is that before that, there should be plans afoot, for a Palestinian state. That could be the stumbling block that Israel and the US could face. Saudi like other Arab nations will not want Palestinians deported. It's a Palestinian state or nothing and I don't blame them. That will be the Saudi idea before a peace plan between them and the Israelis.

I want to suggest an alternative plan. Gaza it is reckoned will take 20 years to shift all the rubble, Remove all the bodies and give them a decent funeral whether Muslim or Christian. Build Gaza from scratch much the same way Germany and Japan were rebuilt after WW II. Much as war-ravaged Europe and Asia were reconstructed after the war. The US pumped money into building up Europe again called the 'Martial Plan'. The UK and other nations were in debt to the US paying back money that helped them rebuild for years.

Gaza is like Germany and Japan after WW II and it will have to be re-built. The Allies who occupied Japan and Germany after the war oversaw this reconstruction. Where the locals could be trained and put to work rebuilding their nations. Experiencing normal life again, earning money, and putting food on the table. Until their nations gained independence again and became democratic nations.

I suggest that Gaza be given a 'martial plan' 2.0. Where Gaza is rebuilt by this martial plan, where Palestinians get to work and are involved in rebuilding their society from the ground up. Where their standard of living goes up. Gaza could follow the Germany-Japan plan for redevelopment and reconstruction. Gaza became a powerhouse in the Mediterranean. Not peopled by American and foreign billionaires or Israeli settlers as Trump outlined. But a paradise peopled by Palestinians for Palestinians in an independent Palestinian state. It could become a tourist hot spot.

However, two questions remain what about Hamas and who would fund this 'martial plan' 2.0? Getting donors from Arab nations and Western nations may not be so hard. However, Hamas will want in with this plan and what to do about that, who knows?