Reconstruction of Gaza - realistic?

[mids2019]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj41y42qxq8o

I think the problem with the below is the mammoth coast and the problem of who pays. To build a city of the size of Birmingham from scratch including public infrastructure to a sufficient standard using non slave Labour is going to be astronomical. Who pays? All the Arab states (although some with concentrated extreme wealth) have their own domestic pressures without stumping up hundreds of billions to produce a new sixth state. There could be international loans but that would bring into question Gazan public debt and how loans could be repaid.

There is also the thorny question about how Gazans go about establishing legal ownership of land or whether they need to buy it again. It seems like a conveyincing nightmare. One solution would be to build identical properties and allocate them the to the populace as a whole but would Gazans want this form of communism in terms of property? If you do have a housing market how do establish a realistic economy to support it?

International aid is extremely stressed and certainly as a UK tax payer I would hope we wouldn't get to involved and as Gazan reconstruction is talked about we should be conscious of the levels of poverty in other regions of the world.

That's the explanation I expect most will give, yes. Rather than not wanting to take them for the usual reasons that countries don't want to resettle refugees. In most cases I expect it'll be a little from column A and a little from column B, obviously excluding the countries who never grant asylum anyway. Not that it makes much difference to any Gazan who wants to relocate but can't find anywhere to go.

But this is one reason why Gazans wanting to get out are indeed damned from all sides. People on all sides can come up with explanations why they have to stay where they are. Whether you (general) don't want to take them because you're hostile to refugees full stop or you don't want to take them because you've decided their individual wishes are less important that your views about the territory, they're just as stuck and fucked either way!

They were fucked the minute it was decided to ethnically cleanse them. Of course they are gong to have to leave. What choice do they have. It is obvious no one is going to come to their aid. A few here, a few there. That is the future for the Palestinians.

I can't tell from this whether you think they're going to be leaving or not.

In order to leave, they'll need somewhere to go. Which isn't currently forthcoming even for all those who want to relocate, let alone those who don't. This means most Gazans will be staying put until and unless there's a significant change of heart from the rest of the world. The list of volunteers is currently a short one, and it's not immediately obvious how it's going to be lengthened. As I said, it would be humane to allow them the choice to stay or go, regardless of who one blames for their current plight. But it's clearly not happening.

It is of course total coincidence that it suits other countries very well to talk about not wanting complicity in ethnic cleansing, and only a cynic would disagree. We'd love to take these refugees, honest, but it's for their own good that we don't! What's that you say, there are millions of other refugees waiting to be relocated as per UNHCR but who we don't have such convenient excuses not to help? Sorry, I seem to have put my fingers in my ears!

Firstly I don't think anyone should blame or object to Gazans wanting to voluntarily leaving Gaza for another country provided that they always have the right of return.

The challenge I see is what countries would be willing to take them in. I personally feel that Jordan and Egypt have already "done their fair share" but that other Middle Eastern countries such as the Gulf States, Saudi and especially Iran should be offering them refuge.

From a European angle it makes sense for those countries that have been the strongest supporters of the Palestinian cause to be the primary destination of refuge for Gazans - namely Ireland, Spain and Norway.

Dawnchorus I know it seems bleak, but the majority of Palestinians are not going to leave Gaza. It's their land, their DNA shows 4000 years of roots tied to the land. A Palestinian friend told me they survived the Babylonians, the Romans and many others and they'll survive this too.

Netanyahu's plan for 2 years was to kill or expel as many Palestinians by authorising the crimes against humanity we've witnessed, he failed. Palestinians endured unimaginable horrors but remained steadfast. The picture is of Palestinians returning to north Gaza last month, those people aren't leaving.

So let me get this straight. You're saying the whole world should forget that israel wanted to ethnically cleanse Gaza of the Palestinian population and now that they have successfully made Gaza an unliveable pile of rubble, the rest of the world should forget about that as something in the past and decide who will accommodate the 2 million refugees while israel gets away with it.

I am totally with you on that but we know what happened in 1948. They are unbelievably resilient and are not stupid. They know if they leave, like they did in the Nakba, they will not be allowed to return but they are human after all. Who can live like that and even if they do start to find some form of existence in what's left of their land, you and I know Israel will just start again to drive them out. As long as our governments support it, I despair for the Palestinians.

What voluntarily?? Gazans do not want to leave Gaza. Calling it voluntary because israel has made it unliveable is like a mugger saying she voluntarily gave me her purse.

I can see a time when Gaza gets rebuilt, with a mix of aid, investment and input from the Palestinians. Gazan architects have already come up with designs and there's enough people looking for work. However, the materials, funding and security required will not happen until Hamas is gone.

Provisions for materials, funding and security need to start now while remaining Gazans are subjected to the horrors of their existence there. Waiting for Hamas to leave cannot be used as another excuse to perpetuate the ethnic cleansing.

2025: The American Mandate in Palestine is born.

The UN Security Coumcil has just adopted a resolution (Russia and China abstained without vetoing) approving Trump’s "board of peace" and effectively subjecting Gaza to modern day colonial rule. Trump will be the head.

I'm going to enjoy teasing Americans about their presidents obsession with the 51st state and watching Trump’s approvals drop even lower after his dismal performance last week.

So would you support preventing any Gazan that say has an offer of refuge from say Ireland or Norway from being able to voluntarily leave Gaza?

I have seen so many Israelis arguing that countries who object to the genocide should take in Palestinians but here is the thing - it is their land! You can’t just destroy someone’s home, displace them and if anyone objects say “you take them”. Why should other countries take them and why should they have to leave?

When the country doing the murdering of civilians and levelling of houses are the ones encouraging them to leave for their own safety and because it is uninhabitable that is called ethnic cleansing. It is a deliberate act, it is against international law. No amount of gaslighting will ever hide what this is.

I have no problem with them coming to Ireland (or Norway) but they shouldn’t have to, it is their home, their land! As Thedawnchorus just said you don’t mug someone and say they gave you their purse.

Agree

What makes you think you can speak for all Gazans?

Many may well want to leave Gaza if given the opportunity. A small minority have already have done so like that strange plane load that arrived in South Africa and those with sick children. I agree with PP saying the issue is more that no countries are willing to take Palestinian refugees in quantity. Again this will mainly be because of the malign influence & threat from Hamas.

It needs to be voluntary in the sense that their right to return is guaranteed by the US but under those circumstances, better to have an open mind and make no judgement from our safe homes in the West about their choices.

It’s not an excuse it’s common sense.

The IDF are still in the process of destroying Hamas infrastructure. They discovered and destroyed an underground tunnel a mile long just in the last few days. You are very free with other peoples money if you think countries should pay to start rebuilding Gaza while the IDF still bombing underground tunnels so the devastation to Gaza continues.

Work is being done on clearing the rubble etc in preparation for rebuilding. But while Hamas are still there you won’t get investors willing to fund the rebuilding of the whole of Gaza.

Thats good - now the peace plan can move towards the second phase.

Maybe you would have preferred Gaza to be stuck in phase one indefinitely but those who really care about peace in the region & the elimination of Hamas want to see progress towards that goal.

Hamas are unhappy about it of course.

If people are so sure that Israel will allow the Gazan Palestinians who emigrate to return after 'reconstruction' answer me a simple question. Why don't they just move into Israel temporarily. Much easier to move a few kilometers than moving thousands of miles away. Also, let me know what is different about these Gazan Palestinians as opposed to the three quarter of a million Palestinians who were expelled during the first Nakba and never allowed to return.

Billions of aid is given to Israel each year that they spend on weapons. In the last two years they have used it to buy weapons and kill 69,000+ people and destroy 92% of houses in Gaza. The world needs to cut off aid to these terrorists!

No, or I'd have actually written that rather than the completely different thing that I actually did.

You really aren't keen on it being pointed out how fucked over Gazans are by the lack of relocation options for those who want to leave, are you? It's unliveable but nonetheless they have to stay put, because apparently you in your infinite wisdom are qualified to decide that none of them want to leave anyway. Best we don't ask them, just in case!

You talk about them 'wanting' to leave. It's not about want is it, it's about being forced to leave as Gaza is now unliveable. It's not voluntary emigration, it's forced emigration because they have no choice. As I've said before, the term 'encourage voluntary emigration' sounds so benign but in reality it is one of the most insidious phrases ever.

@Thedawnchorus all the countries in the world and you think it's reasonable that Israel should be the one to take Gazan Palestinian refugees?

They have been at war until the very recent ceasefire and while support for the Hamas decision to launch the October the 7th is declining, a significant percentage of the population still support it according to recent polls:

For the sixth time since October 7, 2023, we asked respondents from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip what they thought of Hamas' decision to launch the October 7 attack, whether it was correct or incorrect: 53% compared to 50%, in May 2025, and 54% in September 2024, and 67% in June 2024, and 71% in March 2024, said it was the right decision. The increase in this poll came from the Gaza Strip, where it stands today at 44%, an increase of 7 percentage points, and 59% in the West Bank, compared to an identical percentage in May 2025.

https://www.pcpsr.org/en/node/1000

No nation on earth would invite in the people who have been waging war against them through terrorism for decades. Yes we know there are some Palestinians not involved but you know full well there is no way of vetting for a safe relocation.

More forced displacement. It’s shocking. Those Palestinians on that flight had no exit stamps, paperwork etc. Chances of being able to return to Gaza, zero I reckon.