The American New York Times revealed today, Sunday, April 28, 2024, that even with Gaza under siege, international development agencies met with Middle Eastern business interests and city planners to chart a new economic future for the Strip.
The newspaper said that a meeting was held last December in central London, which included more than 20 figures from influential institutions across the Middle East, Europe and the United States, to plan the reconstruction and long-term economic development in Gaza.
She added that members of international institutions discussed how transformation Gaza from a place defined by isolation and poverty to a Mediterranean commercial center focused on trade, tourism and innovation, leading to the emergence of a middle class.
The American newspaper explained that the group included senior officials from American and European economic development agencies, executives from finance and construction companies in the Middle East, two partners from the international consulting firm McKinsey & Company, and the Director General of the World Economic Forum.
The proposed plan was far from the bitter reality facing Gaza today. It was imagined that Gaza would be transformed into a new investment reality, by bringing in tens of billions of dollars, but after resolving the political issues related to who would control Gaza.
Gaza has been subjected to continuous bombardment by the Israeli occupation army since October 7, cities and institutions were turned into rubble, tens of thousands of people were killed, and families faced hunger, fear and sadness.
The meeting participants stressed that simply charting a more prosperous future for the Gaza Strip and its residents holds value because it can pave the way for projects once political conditions become suitable.
“We are proposing to connect Gaza to the world in the long term,” said Chris Chua, founder and director of Outcomist, a London firm that designs large-scale urban development projects, and one of the group’s early advocates.
Participants include Hashem Shawa, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank of Palestine, a commercial bank, Samer Khoury, CEO of Consolidated Contractors International, a construction company working on major projects throughout the Middle East, and Muhammad Abu Khaizran, a member of the Board of Directors of the Arab Hospitals Group, a company that provides medical services in West Bank.
Abu Khaizran said in a press interview, “As soon as the war started, my team and I began developing a plan to build a facility in Gaza soon after the war ended.”
The group explained that the most urgent work is to deliver food, water, health care and emergency shelter to the people of Gaza, who are now facing disaster, but the primary focus of their plan is on the rebuilding that will unfold over the following decades.
