The Trump administration has unveiled bizarre new pictures for a “new Gaza”, featuring a data centre, luxury apartments and “coastal tourism”.
Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, unveiled the images during a press conference at the Davos signing of the US president’s “peace board”.
The images contained CGI-generated images of luxury apartments, data centres and coastal tourism, as well as plans to build more than 100,000 housing units and 75 medical facilities.
President Trump signed the document on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum at a ceremony attended by Sir Tony Blair, who was controversially named as a member of the board.
Mr Trump has invited dozens of world leaders to join the initiative, which has been rejected by Washington’s allies, including Sir Keir Starmer, who said on Thursday that the UK would not sign the agreement. France and Germany have also declined.
Concerns have been raised by European nations over the unexpected invitation extended to Russian president Vladimir Putin, who has waged a brutal war in Ukraine since February 2022. There has also been anger among Arab states over the inclusion of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, whose war in Gaza has led to the deaths of 72,000 Palestinians.
Senior officials from 19 countries were introduced as founding members of the collective that Mr Trump is set to oversee.
“When America booms, the entire world booms,” Mr Trump told the gathering. “This board has the chance to be one of the most consequential bodies ever created and it’s my enormous honour to serve as its chairman.”
He explained: “The board of peace is composed of the top leaders in the world, actually. Last October, we released a plan for the permanent end to the conflict in Gaza – and I’m pleased to say that our vision was unanimously adopted by the United Nations Security Council.
“Under phase one of the plan, we have maintained the Gaza ceasefire and delivered record levels of humanitarian aid. You used to hear people were starving, and you don’t hear that any more.”
Mr Trump said the peace board would ensure that Gaza is “demilitarised”. His secretary of state, Marco Rubio, added that it would also be a “board of action”.
The new plans appeared to mirror an AI-generated video released last year of the war-torn strip transformed into a “riviera” and featuring Mr Trump and Tesla billionaire Elon Musk.
A slide reading “Master Plan” shows four phases of a transformation moving from Rafah through Khan Younis and into Gaza City. Colour-coded blocks are labelled “residential areas”, in yellow, and “coastal tourism”, with 180 tower blocks, labelled in bright pink. Large sections of land are dedicated to “industrial complex data centres” and advanced manufacturing. The regions are cut up with green sections labelled “parks, agriculture and sports facilities”.
As well as the 100,000 permanent housing units and 75 medical facilities, “New Rafah” is also expected to feature over 200 education centres and over 180 cultural, religious and vocational centres. The futuristic facilities show twisting white skyscrapers and large motorways.
“I’m a real estate person at heart, and it’s all about location, and I said, look at this location on the sea, look at this beautiful piece of property, what it could be for so many people,” Mr Trump continued. “It’ll be so, so great. People that are living so poorly are going to be living so well. But it all began with the location.”
The peace board is expected to serve as a forum for global conflict mediation, which Mr Trump hopes will serve as an alternative to the United Nations.
Russia said on Wednesday that it was studying the proposal after Mr Trump said it would join. Putin pledged to send $1bn to the peace board, according to the news agency Tass.
Around 35 countries have committed to joining, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Turkey and Belarus.
Countries represented on stage during the announcement included: Bahrain, Morocco, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Hungary, Indonesia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Pakistan, Paraguay, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, UAE, Uzbekistan and Mongolia.
European countries were notably absent from the grouping. The UK said it would not be signing the treaty today, according to the foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper.
“We won’t be one of the signatories today, because this is about a legal treaty that raises much broader issues, and we do also have concerns about President Putin being part of something which is talking about peace,” Ms Cooper told BBC News from Davos.
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