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Opinion

How Riviera is part of Trump’s bigger plan – Firstpost

How Riviera is part of Trump’s bigger plan – Firstpost


Fantastical, reckless, outlandish and bizarre—such words have been used to describe Donald Trump’s shocking plan of transforming the Gaza Strip into the “Riviera of Middle East (West Asia)”, which sounds as illogical as his Greenland, Panama Canal and Canada plans.

On January 4, the US president dropped a bombshell. Beside a beaming Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, he said that America wants to take over Gaza, relocate Gazans to neighbouring nations (Jordan and Egypt) and redevelop the coastal enclave into a riviera.

“We have an opportunity to do something that could be phenomenal … the Riviera of the Middle East. This could be so magnificent,” Trump told flabbergasted reporters adding that he envisioned “the world people living” in an “international, unbelievable” Gaza.

The international shockwaves hadn’t even receded when Trump doubled down on his dream project a few days later.

“I’m committed to buying and owning Gaza. As far as rebuilding it, we may give it to other states in the Middle East to build sections of it,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One on January 9.

Describing war-ravaged Gaza as “a big real estate site” that the US will own and develop, he said it’s a “big mistake” to allow Gazans to return there. “There’s nothing to move back into. The place is a demolition site. The remainder will be demolished.”

It was a U-turn from the decades-long US policy of a two-state solution and the campaign promise of non-intervention in West Asia with Trump not ruling out sending troops to war-torn Gaza to realise his dream project.

Trump’s ‘Gaza Riviera’ a sudden fantasy?

Gaza has no real estate future. According to the UN, 60 per cent of buildings and around 92 per cent of houses were damaged or destroyed in the latest Israel-Hamas War.

Gaza is a territorial dispute of around seven decades, a cauldron of hate and violence from both Hamas and Israel and an issue of Palestinian identity and religion. Removing two million Gazans would be ethnic cleansing.

Moreover, Hamas is entrenched in Gaza despite losing several thousand of its members.

“Gaza is not a property to be sold and bought. It is an integral part of our occupied Palestinian land,” Ezzat El Rashq, a member of the Hamas political bureau, said after Trump’s latest comments.

Gazans, several West Asian nations, including US allies, and even some Republican lawmakers have rubbished Trump’s idea. Jordan and Egypt have rejected Trump’s suggestion of absorbing the displaced Gazans.

Even the White House has walked back on some of Trump’s statements. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump hadn’t committed to sending US troops to Gaza and that Gazans should be only “temporarily relocated”. Even secretary of state Marco Rubio and the Israeli PM said that Gazans can come back after the debris is cleared and Gaza is rebuilt.

Trump is adamant. He has threatened to cut the annual US military and economic aid to Jordan and Egypt—$1.69 billion and $1.5 billion in 2023, respectively—if they don’t accept Gazans. “If they don’t agree, I would conceivably withhold aid,” he has said.

However, when asked in Jordan’s King Abdullah II’s presence at the White House whether he would freeze aid to Amman, he said, “I don’t have to threaten that. I do believe we’re above that.” Despite easing off the threat, Trump stuck to his plan. “It’s not a complex thing to do. And with the United States being in control of that piece of land, a fairly large piece of land, you’re going to have stability in the Middle East for the first time,” he said.

The president is infamous for being a maverick who decides hastily without consulting his aides. According to media reports, Rubio, national security adviser Mike Waltz and defence secretary Pete Hegseth were clueless about Trump’s jolting proposal.

However, the president’s plan looks like a part of a larger scheme to further The Trump Organization’s interests despite lacking in details—the number of US troops required to wipe out Hamas, defuse the bombs and clear the rubble, the cost of rebuilding Gaza and relocation of Gazans.

Four factors must be considered before dubbing Trump’s plan a sudden fantasy.

Gaza Riviera plan not new

Trump’s plan was in the making months before he returned to the White House.

After Trump’s announcement, his West Asia envoy Steve Witkoff told Republican senators in a closed-door lunch at the Capitol that the decision wasn’t made on the spur of the moment and the administration had been “gestating on this plan for some time”.

According to The Wall Street Journal Trump discussed with Netanyahu the ‘potential’ of Gaza as a “
prime piece of real estate” last year.

Trump announcing the plan without keeping Netanyahu in the loop isn’t possible. The two leaders share an excellent rapport and turning Gaza into a riviera without Bibi’s knowledge is like not involving Israel in a ceasefire dialogue with Hamas.

Moreover, Trump’s plan bolstered Bibi’s right-wing partners’ idea of the relocation of Gazans. In December 2023, finance minister Bezalel Smotrich-led Religious Zionism called for Gazans to emigrate so that Israeli settlers could “make the desert bloom”.

Last month, Smotrich and then-national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who heads Otzma Yehudit, called for “voluntary emigration” of Gazans and rebuilding the enclave.

The Riviera plan has also given a lifeline to Netanyahu’s government. Both Smotrich and Ben-Gvir were opposed to the Gaza ceasefire deal. After Ben-Gvir and his two ministers quit in protest, Smotrich threatened to resign and withdraw support.

Now, Ben-Gvir has said that he will rejoin the government if Netanyahu implements Trump’s plan. The day after Trump’s announcement, he said, “We have a huge opportunity and we must not miss it … So, now is the time to move on to implementation.”

Smotrich, borrowing from Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan, tweeted; “Together, we will make the world great again.”

In fact, Trump’s relocation plan echoes the ideas of Smotrich and Ben-Gvir.

After Trump proposed that Jordan and Egypt absorb Gazans, Smotrich said that he was “working with the prime minister and the Cabinet to prepare an operational plan and ensure the realisation of President Trump’s vision”. Ben-Gvir said, “Encouraging immigration is the only thing that will bring a solution of rest and tranquillity to the State of Israel and the residents of Gaza.”

Immediately after he was sworn in on January 20, Trump said that Gaza is “a phenomenal location on the sea, has the best weather and everything’s good” adding that “some beautiful things could be done with it”.

Kushner’s bigger plan in Palestinian territories

Media outlets have reported that Trump’s plan echoes his son-in-law Jared Kushner’s idea of Gaza’s value as a waterfront property.

Kushner, a real estate investor like Trump and his previous West Asia envoy, has long eyed the Gaza Strip. In an interview at Harvard University in February 2024, he said that Gaza was a “very valuable” waterfront property and could be a tourism hub if Gazans were relocated, at least, temporarily.

“Gaza’s waterfront property could be very valuable … if people would focus on building up livelihoods. It’s a little bit of an unfortunate situation there, but from Israel’s perspective, I would do my best to move the people out and then clean it up,” Kushner said.

Though Kushner doesn’t have a formal role in Trump 2.0, his advice matters for several reasons.

Kushner was one of the main architects of the Abraham Accords during Trump’s first term. He is close to Saudi Arabia, whose sovereign wealth fund, Public Investment Fund (PIF), gave $2 billion to his company Affinity Partners, and the UAE and Qatar, which also funnelled a combined $1.5 billion to the fund.

Affinity Partners, formed in 2021, is a Miami-based investment company that invests in US and Israeli companies. Strangely, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) invested the $2 billion despite the doubts of his officials.

The Saudi officials weren’t wrong. Last September, a US Senate inquiry found that Affinity was paid $157 million in fees without returning profit to investors. The probe triggered suspicions that the company was formed to buy Saudi influence if Trump won a second term—and he did.

The Gaza Riviera project is part of the bigger Trump-Kushner scheme to build luxury resorts, hotels and villas on ruins, war-torn places and ghost towns along seacoasts.

Kushner has invested in two real estate projects in Albania. The first is a luxury complex of futuristic-looking villas along the coastline near Vlorë town. The second is the redevelopment of a former Soviet submarine and chemical weapons base on Sazan Island.

In the Serbian capital of Belgrade, a Trump-branded luxury hotel will be constructed on the site of the former Yugoslav defence ministry, bombed by NATO in 1999, under a Trump Organization-Affinity joint project.

Gaza is only a part of Kushner’s designs on Palestinian territories—they also include the West Bank.

During his first term, Trump unveiled a plan called ‘Peace to Prosperity: A Vision to Improve the Lives of the Palestinian and Israeli People’ alongside Netanyahu in the White House in January 2020.

The plan, dubbed ‘The Deal of the Century’, was authored by a Kushner-led team which called for annexing 30 per cent of the West Bank and the creation of a Palestinian pseudo-state with no military. The Palestinian Authority rejected the plan.

Unsurprisingly, hours before the Gaza ceasefire was announced in Qatar on January 14, Affinity became the largest shareholder in a major Israeli finance and insurance firm called Phoenix Financial Ltd by increasing his stake to around 10 per cent.

Phoenix is the financier and insurer of several construction projects in the West Bank and Syria’s Golan Heights. The company also finances wind and solar projects in Israeli settlements. Affinity has also invested in the car leasing division of another Israeli company, Shlomo Holdings.

Witkoff eyed West Asia for long

Witkoff, instrumental in getting the Gaza ceasefire deal finalised despite no foreign policy experience, is a real estate builder.

The New York real estate developer and investor is Trump’s golfing buddy, has known the president since the 80s and has deep ties with the Qataris.

In August 2023, Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund purchased New York’s 46-storey Park Lane Hotel, once a part of an investigation by the US Justice Department, from Witkoff’s company for $623 million. Qatar Investment Authority invested about $1 billion in real estate in New York City in 2023. Witkoff and his son are looking for real estate opportunities in the tiny peninsular nation of futuristic skyscrapers.

Witkoff’s appointment before the January 20 inauguration and his Gaza trip before Trump announced his Riviera plan was part of Trump’s grand design.

The realty magnate sealed the ceasefire deal, showing outgoing President Joe Biden in a poor light and earning plaudits for Trump.

Witkoff’s Gaza trip, made the week before Trump announced his Riviera project, was supposed to add ballast to the plan.

At a press conference at the White House after returning from Gaza, Witkoff said, “In any city in the USA, if you had damage that was one-hundredth of what I saw in Gaza … nobody would be allowed to go back to their homes. That’s how dangerous it is.”

He made the same argument as Trump that Gaza is dangerous and a demolition site. “There are 30,000 unexploded munitions; there are buildings that could tip over at any moment; there are no utilities there whatsoever; no working water, electric, gas—nothing.”

Just before the Trump-Netanyahu press conference, Witkoff, alongside Waltz, told reporters that when the president “talks about cleaning it out, he talks about making it habitable, and this is a long-range plan”. Waltz said, “And this guy knows real estate.”

On the same day, Witkoff defended Trump’s idea of relocating Gazans. “A better life is not necessarily tied to the physical space that you’re in today.”

Witkoff, like Kushner, views West Asia as a giant real estate deal and the two are in regular touch regarding the issues in the volatile region. The envoy’s Witkoff Group describes itself as “One part developer. One part investor. One part landscape-changer.” Therefore, Witkoff’s interests align with Trump’s Gaza Riviera plan.

Trump eyes max profit in his last term

The Trump Organization has pledged to “not enter into any new material transactions or contracts with a foreign government” in his second term.

In his first term, Trump said, “The law’s totally on my side, meaning the president can’t have a conflict of interest.” However, he refused to divest from the Organization and made 
tens of millions from international business interests, according to the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

Trump made 
around $160 million from international business dealings in his first term with 4,000 instances of conflicts of interest between his business interests and the presidency.

Of the $160 million, Trump earned, at least, 
$9.6 million from West Asian countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait and Turkey, CREW findings show.

Therefore, Trump’s idea of a Gaza Riviera perfectly aligns with his business interests in West Asia and he wants to ensure maximum profit from the region before leaving office.

Though Arab nations have rejected Trump’s Riviera plan, Jordan and Egypt have softened their stand. Amman has agreed to take in 2,000 sick Gazan kids and King Abdullah said that Arab nations would present their Gaza plan. Meanwhile, Cairo plans to “present a comprehensive vision” for Gaza’s reconstruction without relocating its residents and “hopes to cooperate” with the US.

Saudi Arabia has rejected Trump’s plan for now—but Riyadh and Trump have deep business ties. MBS has pledged a $600 billion investment in the US during Trump’s term with the president pushing him to increase the sum to $1 trillion.

PIF governor and MBS confidant Yasir Al-Rumayyan met Trump in New York soon after his victory. The PIF has direct and indirect business ties with The Trump Organisation.

Several of Trump’s golf courses have hosted events for the Saudi-backed LIV golf tournament, an alternative to the PGA Tour, with the last three in 2023. The Trump Organization has leased its brand to 
two new real estate projects in Saudi Arabia.

During Qatar’s isolation by several West Asian nations during Trump’s first term, Doha spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on lobbying to be in his good books and purchased a 
$6.5 million condo in Trump World Tower.

Trump earned $10 million in royalties from his golf course in Dubai before his first win and signed a $23 billion arms deal with the UAE as his term ended.

Things are falling into place in Trump’s plan. The Gaza ceasefire hangs by a thread.

Hamas has accused Israel of shooting Gazans and has threatened to delay further hostage release.

Netanyahu has threatened to resume the Gaza operation if Hamas postpones hostage release. The Trump administration has okayed the sale of $6.75 billion in bombs, guidance kits and fuses and another $660 million in Hellfire missiles to Israel.

If the war resumes, Trump will have more reason to argue that his Riviera project is the only way to bring peace to Gaza.

The writer is a freelance journalist with more than two decades of experience and comments primarily on foreign affairs. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the writer. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.



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