UAE plans to bankroll first ‘planned community’ in south Gaza

[Twiglets1]

Guardian Exclusive: Blueprints describe a ‘case study’ community where residents submit biometric data to gain entry:

The United Arab Emirates plans to fund “Gaza’s first planned community” on the ruined outskirts of Rafah. Palestinian residents there will have access to basic services like education, healthcare and running water, as long as they submit to biometric data collection and security vetting, according to planning documents and people familiar with the latest round of talks at the US-led Civil Military Coordination Center in Israel.

The planned city would mark the UAE’s first investment in a postwar reconstruction project located in the part of Gaza currently held by Israel. The wealthy Gulf state has contributed more than $1.8bn of humanitarian assistance to Gaza since 7 October 2023, according to UAE state media, making it Gaza’s largest humanitarian donor.

Blueprints for the Emirati-backed endeavor are laid out in an unclassified slide deck obtained by the Guardian and first reported by Dropsite, but the UAE’s role as its planned financier has not previously been reported. The presentation was prepared for a cohort of European donors who visited the CMCC on 14 January, according to an aid official who shared details about the briefing on the condition of anonymity. Israeli military planners have given the plans their stamp of approval.

The United Arab Emirates did not comment on its decision to endorse the Board of Peace, or its plans to fund one of the first US- and Israeli-backed reconstruction projects in Gaza.

One US official said that the first Emirati-backed compound could “become a model” for a string of residential camps that US and Israeli officials have described as “alternative safe communities”.

Within the first Rafah community, billed as a “case study”, planners envision several efforts to prevent the influence of Hamas, including the introduction of electronic shekel wallets “to mitigate the diversion of goods and funds to the Hamas financial channels”, and a school curriculum that will “not be Hamas-based”, but supplied by the UAE. Planners also specify that residents will be permitted to “enter and exit the neighborhood freely, subject to security checks to prevent the introduction of weapons and hostile elements”.

A White House spokesperson said that the Emirati-backed compound would be built during the board’s initial reconstruction push.

Land-clearing efforts for the Rafah site are already under way, an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson told the Guardian.

“Israel’s mission on the east side of the yellow line is to clear the infrastructure in that territory, including tunnels, booby-trapped houses – all of the infrastructure left on our side,” the IDF spokesperson said.

They also said that Israel would not participate in building or running the Emirati compound. “When construction begins, that’s when the ISF participates with boots on the ground.”

A project timeline obtained by the Guardian indicates that site planning began with a “land deed” review in late October and will entail at least four to six months of preparations before construction begins.

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/23/uae-funds-gaza-community

interesting

Let’s see if this works, but if so it sounds like a great idea. An option to live in a secure compound without Hamas infiltration.

I think this is important because of Gaza is going to rebuilt there needs to be avenge in culture from the Palestnians and they need to give up the idea of freedom fighting terrorism as a means of acheiving their aims i.e. the murder of Israelis and destruction of Israel. I think education of the young is important and maybe there is an opportunity to give proper oversight of what is taught in class rooms if not the home.

The perpetrators of October 7th were obviously steeped in Jew hate from an early age and we need to end this immersion of hatred for the Gazan people.

Agree @mids2019 that an education curriculum that is not perpetuating hatred is key. Young people need to grow up with better goals than becoming “freedom fighters” as this only contributes to the cycle of violence & poverty. We wouldn’t want it for our own children and should have higher aspirations for the children of Gaza than just a continuation of living under Hamas rule.

I’m sure this plan will be highly controversial. But what has gone before hasn’t been good for the people of Gaza even before their so called leaders triggered a war they couldn’t win.

@Twiglets1

Exactly

So a ghetto with compulsory reeducation and surveillance on all financial transactions? It sounds appalling.

Most UK schools follow the National Curriculum and we have biometrics to get in and out plus financial checks on large transactions.
So, yes, that's just awful.

You “have biometrics to get in and out” of your town? Where do you live? IS your children’s curriculum set by someone from another country? Are you subjected to tracking on all your financial transactions, and if you genuinely feel you are then who do you think is tracking them and what do you feel the consequences would be for you?

@TomeTome The people commenting this is a good idea make me lose what little faith in humanity I have left.

Not one of the people commenting this is a good idea would live like this themselves. Not one.

Palestine belongs to the Palestinian people. Not the US, not the UAE and not the Israelis.

And nobody say "October 7th" to me either. What about the Nakba and the decades of murder and oppression since then? Also the UAE are complicit in the genocide in Sudan. So they're the perfect bedfellows for US and Israel.

@drspouse So you'd be happy to live like this yourself? For your whole life to be subject to these rules?

@HalfWomanHalfFish

If not compulsory to live there, it’s not an infringement on anyone’s liberty in that sense. People will choose to live there or not.

Trading bits of our privacy and liberty for security or convenience is something we do often.

If there were two towns, one which banned firearms and one which didn’t, I’d choose the no-firearms one willingly.

I want my employer to have strong anti-corruption measures, including financial surveillance, because a) I want to work somewhere that corrupt people will choose not to, and b) I don’t like corruption and want to see less of it overall.

I grant tech giants vastly more visibility into my life than a security services screening would get, for convenience.

If I lived in Gaza I would 100% choose to live here.

Unless you think Palestinians aren’t savvy enough to understand these trades, or you think no Palestinian would want to make life harder for terrorism and safer for themselves, why would you object to this?

It needs rebuilding. It has to start somewhere. The Palestinian people cannot do it alone. They don't have the money, power etc to get things happening. The UAE have a starter plan.

It's almost like nothing will be accepted by some people (who don't live there) and they want Palestinians to be perpetual victims, so they can bang on with their own narratives. They need government's to provide money and ways to get Gaza to a functional society without terrorists buggering it up again. I hope things start changing soon for the better. Some Pro Pals will never be happy, no matter what improvements are suggested for actual real Palestinians. Why?

It's not an easy parallel when you throw Hamas into the equation.

As a UK citizen I can choose to provide my biometrics to enter the UK more conveniently.

As a UK resident, my finances are surveilled by my bank and can be surveilled by the state, to deter and detect money laundering & terrorist financing.

Do you object to either of these? Why or why not?

I guess the question is are there alternatives in any real sense.
If your finances were monitored not by the state in the uk (and there are checks on that monitoring here) but by another country with different values to your own and whom you have no choice in, would that bother you?

Palestinians should be as free as you are. Equality should be the starting point always for everyone.

@GeneralPeter they aren’t talking about biometrics to get in and out of countries. This is checkpoints on your neighbourhood.

So lets get this straight. Palestinians are going to be moved into a labour camp where they are going to be “re-educated”, have their finances controlled, finances which they will receive by working on building and servicing luxury tourist towers which they will never be able to afford on what was their land. They will of course remain stateless without self determination. Basically indentured labour from which they will never be able to escape but they are supposed to be grateful are they?

I'm talking about the UK as a whole.

Think posters up in arm are misunderstanding the point of the biometrics, it’s to avoid known Hamas warriors joining the new community. Makes perfect sense to me. The education will likely be modeled on what the UAE offer their own children. So unless that is full of hate and jihadism I’m sure it will be adequately Islamic for that to align with “culture”. As for claims of “Labour camps” etc. Give it a rest! Gratitude should be shown for the offer.

Equally, none of the people being critical of this would live in tents in Gaza at the mercy of Hamas either.

I don't trust the UAE, but it's also worth pointing out there are no good options here. Gaza needs investment to rebuild. Nobody is going to do that with anything that Hamas can just requisition to attack the Israelis again, because one way or another it'll just get flattened. There has to be a Hamas free path, and that won't be possible without extensive monitoring.

From Kushners unveiled plan. “Workforce Housing (Rafah): The first phase focuses on high-density residential blocks in the south to quickly move people out of tents. Planners claim this can be completed in just two to three years.”. That is a labour camp. If you think anyone spending money on this, including the 1 billion to join the Board of Peace, are doing this altruistically for the sake of the Palestinian people you are dreaming. It is an investment from which they intend to reap substantial rewards. The only work that the Palestinians will be able to get will be in the construction of the luxury towers or servicing them afterwards as cheap labour and being stateless, their movement will be restricted. That is literally indentured labour, something I thought was unacceptable in this modern world. They will have an existence with no actual prospects or self determination living in a land that is theirs but having to watch rich foreigners enjoying the beaches that are theirs.

@RedSongBird

How are you defining “labour camp” and “indentured labour”?

Because I’m not seeing how what you have described would fit the usual definitions.

So all should be on perpetual benefits and handouts then? Is that utopia? Get free housing, education and contribute to the rebuilding of your community. If that’s a horrid deal, fine, don’t take it.

My starting point for this proposal is that it is voluntary, and that light it’s a very positive thing and a good option.

If voluntary, biometric checkpoints aren’t a problem either (I’d want to live in such a neighborhood if I had to live in Gaza. Not in London as the balance of risks is very different).

If it’s effectively mandatory, my view changes. I still think though that in the case of Gaza we can’t ignore the fact that Palestinian nationalism has destabilized countries across the region for decades, and is in essence a genocidal project. While I don’t love the idea of neighbours imposing their security controls/surveillance on Gaza, I couldn’t particularly blame them for deciding they must do so.

There’s a huge appetite for Palestinian goods and produce. As there is for supporting them back onto their feet. I would imagine once they can trade and move freely Palestinians will rebuild their country.

I agree. It's just how we get Gazans there in a sustainable way that doesn't facilitate Hamas. I would like to be able to buy Gazan products to support the re-establishment of the economy, as long as I knew Hamas weren't getting a cut. Hopefully those options can come into being.