Gazans showed little enthusiasm on Friday for Donald Trump's planned renovation of their territory, saying they doubted US intentions and would rather have land, aid and compensation after Israel's war.
Mr Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner unveiled plans at the World Economic Forum for a glitzy makeover of Gaza, under which tents and rubble would be replaced by gleaming towers, coastal tourism and commercial zones.
The artist's impressions of a $30 billion transformation were greeted cautiously in the enclave, where Mr Trump's previous AI-fuelled visions of a new Gaza provoked anger and fears of Palestinians being pushed off their land.
Mousa Abu Hani, 47, who lives in a tent near Khan Younis after a war that killed four of his nine children, said the US announcement “ignores us as the people of Gaza”. Under the plan, a public beach would be sold to a private owner and high-rise buildings that were once sprawled across Gaza city would be confined to the coast.
“Honestly, I did not see anything in it that has to do with us. They are all American plans, and it is clear that the main beneficiaries are American businessmen, Trump, and his inner circle,” Mr Abu Hani said.
By also not including Palestine in the 26-member Board of Peace to map out the future of Gaza, “the world is making decisions on behalf of Palestinians”, Bushra Al Khalidi told The National from the occupied West Bank.
Decisions such as building a port in Gaza and setting up the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the operations of which led to hundreds of people being killed trying to access aid, were made without Palestinians' input, Ms Khalidi said.
Whether the 12-member Palestinian committee appointed to oversee Gaza will have real authority or decision-making power remains unclear. “There is a real risk that Palestinians are again being positioned as implementers rather than decision-makers, while others continue to call the shots,” Ms Khalidi said. “If such a body is to mean anything, it must have genuine agency and authority, and be a step towards Palestinian self-determination and accountable governance.”
Mr Kushner's presentation to political and business elites in Davos promised “amazing investment opportunities” and forecast a Gazan economy worth $10 billion in a decade's time. Rebuilding the Strip is part of phase two of Mr Trump's peace plan, which began with a ceasefire in October.
The deal has brought some respite to Gazans after two years of war, but Israel still frequently carries out attacks and has killed more than 440 people since October 10. It has also blocked the entry of supplies such as meat, chicken, tents, jackets and reconstruction equipment vital to keep shelters from damage in the winter wind.
It is also not known how, if at all, people would be compensated for what they would lose under the plans, including land.
“I personally do not want to live in a residential city. I want to live on the rubble of my home in Rafah,” Mr Abu Hani said. “I want to live on my land. No one in the world has the right to take my land and give me an apartment instead.
“In the entire plan, we did not see a single word about compensating the people who lost their children and families in this war. I lost my daughter, two sons, my married daughter, her children and her husband, all of them were killed in the Israeli bombardment during the genocide war.”
But Adham Al Souri, 28, said he wanted to assume good intentions and hope that “tomorrow will be better and more beautiful” after a war that displaced him to Gaza city. “We heard the American announcement, and on the surface it appears to carry development and progress for the people of Gaza, a promise to save us from the life of tents, hunger and poverty that we are living,” he said.
The “real test” will come next week, he said, when Gaza's interim government says the Rafah crossing with Egypt will open for the first time since the ceasefire. Israel has yet to confirm whether it will agree to that.
Mr Al Souri said opening the border would prove that the world truly wants what's best for Gaza. “But if things remain as they are, then unfortunately this will be evidence that our situation is still very difficult.”
He is acutely aware that what was lost in lives and homes cannot be truly retrieved, but he hopes that at least the basics of life will return and fear of war and famine will disappear.
“We have never trusted the Americans, because they are Israel’s primary supporters in killing us and supplying it with weapons of every kind. Still, we are forced to be hopeful and imagine that tomorrow might be better and brighter, God willing.”
Others like Maryam Abu Al Foul, 36, who lives in a tent beside her destroyed home in Sheikh Radwan, say Gazans want a dignified life regardless of “peace councils or American promises”.
“We are not against peace, nor against a decent life. Before the war, we were living that in every detail,” she said. “We want solutions for everything, for patients, housing, salaries, food and fuel. We want everything to be available.”
Two of her children are injured – her son Mus'ab has a metal plate for a leg injury, which sometimes leads to inflammation and swelling because of a lack of treatment, and her daughter Zeina has a head injury and urgently needs treatment abroad.
Nothing means anything to her if her children are not taken care of and provided with the means for treatment and a path towards a better life, she said. She hopes that her husband will at least be able to work and provide the family with food “so that we can once again bear the burdens of life and live a dignified life, better than the one we are living now among tents, poverty, and need”.
Mr Abu Hani said he felt Palestinians were “treated as marginal” in Mr Kushner's plans. “The decision should come from us. We are the ones who should decide what we want,” he said. “We have minds, we can think, and we are capable of determining our own future. We do not need the world to decide for us.
“Yes, we want the life of tents to end and for things to return to normal, but we do not want anything imposed on us. We want our decisions to be in our own hands. Determining our fate is our right alone.”
