On democracy and other niceties – David Rosenberg in Haaretz:
‘After months of so much nonsense being proposed for the future of the Gaza Strip – turning the place into another Mediterranean Riviera, or a high-tech city, or a new home for Israeli settlements – a source as unlikely as Donald Trump may have come up with at least the outlines of a reasonable solution.
There is still no reason to take out the party hats. Trump's 20-point plan, unveiled on Monday, seems to offer a sensible pathway toward ending the war, administering Gaza, rebuilding it and developing a functioning economy. But, it is by no means certain that two of the key parties, namely Israel and Hamas, will seriously back it. Knowing Trump's famously short attention span, all they may have to do is sit back and wait for him to move onto other things.’
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‘Trump, who you would think has little spare time being leader of the free world and chairing the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, will serve as chairman of the Orwellian-named "board of peace" to supervise the work and raise funding.’
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‘Gaza isn't likely to become the next Singapore, but it does have enough theoretical assets to attract private investors, rather than just aid money. It is close to markets like Israel, Turkey and Saudi Arabia and has a Mediterranean shoreline with tourism potential.’
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‘Trump's proposed two-tiered governance structure is bound to appall progressives in the West and Palestinian nationalists. The only people named as sitting on the "board of peace" that will be the ultimate authority are two white, European guys (Trump and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair). Presumably, its membership will be rounded out with some Arab leaders, but it appears that it will be Trump who picks them, without any Palestinian input. Below that will be a "technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee" (with some non-Palestinians) running day-to-day affairs whose staffing will not be open to Hamas supporters.’
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‘Right now Gaza is not in any position to engage in the niceties of holding elections and forming governments. ‘
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‘Israel's messianic right is no doubt just as anxious as Hamas. If the Trump plan is realized, the dream of annexation and settlement is over. Compared to Hamas, it has fewer tools with which to disrupt the Trump plan, but the proposal contains some tempting loopholes ready to be exploited.’
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‘The bank's revised economic outlook, also released on Monday, assumes that the fighting in Gaza ends only in the first quarter of next year, and therefore cut its forecast for GDP this year by 0.8 percentage points to a tepid 2.5 percent in 2025.’
Read the article here.
Not the next Singapore, but maybe the next Hydra? We skip the Greek islands this summer, we go to a resort in Gaza.
Forget the niceties, go back to the 19th century.
Perhaps decolonization will go down in history books as a rather unsuccessful detour to better colonization?
The masters of the world are rather illiterate, but they understand money, power and sex. Some of them are fond of champagne and cigars.
If Trump’s plan goes well Messianism ends in an all inclusive resort. If it doesn’t go well, the all inclusive resorts remain in Turkey and Spain.