Gaza’s reconstruction will have to wait
Needless to say, Hamas poses the main obstacle to peace, full-scale reconstruction of the Strip contingent on its disarmament and the termination of its governance, Israel’s security paramount.
Since the Board of Peace’s inaugural meeting in Washington early this year there has been little visible progress. Following the elections in Israel and the United States they are slated to announce plans for a Palestinian Administration and Police Force as well as an International Stabilization Force.
An American Professor of Economics and International Affairs, Joseph Pelzman, has proposed a well-documented build-operate-transfer financing scheme for overcoming Gaza’s bankruptcy and enabling its rebuilding, whose main program elements are tourism, agriculture and high-tech.
The situation on the ground in Gaza today: in spite of the “Cease Fire” of October ’25, the IDF conducts daily strikes, controlling roughly 64% of the Strip, Hamas – 30,000 armed men, benefitting from materials entering the Strip daily, including parts of tents for winter, the remainder. Incredibly, their homes destroyed, an estimated 40% of Gazans continue to support Hamas. Some 40% said they are willing to emigrate.
This will be the fourth consecutive grim winter facing close to two million Gazans. With many tents in poor condition, they’ll once again be exposed to severe flooding and freezing weather. Along with acute food insecurity, and a healthcare system that has collapsed, funding shortfalls.
Among solutions investigated for dealing with the enormous quantity of rubble, the result of the war, is the creation of artificial islands, thus expanding Gaza’s landmass, but here too significant problems abound: unexploded ordinance, hazardous material and human remains. Clearing the rubble alone, it is estimated, could take close to ten years.
Major long-term rebuilding plans are not lacking, President Trump”s hugely insensitive “Riviera” along Gaza’s forty kilometer coastline just one of them. Any serious reconstruction plan cannot be superimposed by outsiders. The involvement and participation of Gazans in the planning process is essential, insuring the plan respects their way of life, history and culture. Palestinian planners have in fact already created a “Phoenix” plan of their own.
Simply stated, Hamas in Gaza means that full-scale reconstruction will be indefinitely postponed. Following their agreement, which to every Israeli seems highly unlikely, years, perhaps decades of work.
Gerard Heumann – Architect and Urban Designer, Jerusalem
