From genocide to gentrification: Trump’s plan to erase Gaza’s population exposed

The latest ethnic cleansing proposal targeting Palestinians in Gaza has surfaced in the form of a postwar reconstruction initiative backed by the administration of President Donald Trump. Dubbed the “GREAT Trust” (Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation), the plan envisions the so-called “voluntary” departure of Gaza’s entire population, with cash incentives offered as inducements.

The plan has been described as to little more than forced displacement under the guise of humanitarian development, violating international law and perpetuating the systematic erasure of the Palestinian people.

The 38-page document, reviewed by the Washington Post and developed by figures involved in the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), proposes the relocation of Gaza’s more than two million residents either to a third country or into restricted internal zones during a projected 10-year US-administered trusteeship.

Palestinians who agree to leave would receive a one-time payment of $5,000 and four years of subsidised rent and food, while their land is converted into collateral for luxury developments, including what the plan brands the “Gaza Trump Riviera.”

Framed as a transformative vision for the enclave, the plan has been sold to investors with promises of a nearly fourfold return on a $100 billion investment. Yet beyond the glossy renderings of smart cities and beach resorts lies an agenda to dismantle Gaza’s demographic reality, reducing its people to a disposable obstacle to be removed and replaced by Western-style urban projects serving regional elite interests.

Read: Trump revives Gaza ‘Riviera’ plan in White House meeting with Blair and Kushner

Critics say the initiative draws from the same ideological foundations as past settler-colonial projects, offering financial compensation as a cover for ethnic cleansing, while framing military occupation in the language of modernisation and opportunity.

Trump, meanwhile, has explicitly described Gaza as a prime site for redevelopment once its inhabitants are removed. He has referred to Gaza as a “massive demolition site” with untapped potential: “It’s got to be rebuilt in a different way,” he said, promoting the vision of a Middle Eastern Riviera. His administration has pushed the notion that Palestinians would “live beautifully” elsewhere, denying their right to return.

The GREAT Trust document makes no mention of Palestinian statehood or self-determination. Instead, it outlines a long-term trusteeship in which the US and its allies, including private security firms, retain governance and security control, while a reformed Palestinian polity is prepared to join the Abraham Accords.

Crucially, Israel would preserve security dominance for at least the first year, while land ownership is to be converted into digital tokens to be redeemed for housing in AI-powered smart cities, or cashed out for resettlement abroad.

Legal experts have slammed the plan as a violation of international humanitarian law. Professor Adil Haque of Rutgers University stressed that any displacement plan that denies the right of return or fails to ensure full access to basic needs such as food and shelter is illegal. The superficial “voluntariness” of departure, he warned, cannot legitimise what is essentially coercion amid devastation.

Despite the euphemistic language of reconstruction, Palestinians themselves are under no illusion about the plan’s implications. Three quarters of the Palestinian population were expelled from their homes during Israel’s founding to make way for the establishment of an ethno-nationalist state. To preserve Jewish, supremacy non-Jews have been subjected to further waves of ethnic cleansing.