Press Release: Veritas Press C.I.C.
Author: Kamran Faqir
Article Date Published: 09 Sept 2025 at 08:47 GMT
Category: Middle East | Palestine-Gaza | US-Israel At War
Source(s): Veritas Press C.I.C. | Multi News Agencies
Bombs Before The Bulldozers:
On Day 704 of the Gaza war, the skies over Gaza City lit up once more. Israeli jets bombarded Al-Salam, Al-Roya, Mushtaha, and the Sousi Towers, flattening them into concrete dust. Families who had refused to leave their homes, clinging to the last vestiges of normalcy, were buried alive beneath the rubble. Reportedly, Israeli officials labelled them as “terror towers.”
“We are digging with shovels and our fingers. Every hour we delay means more people die,” said a desperate civil defence worker in Al-Shati refugee camp, where Israeli strikes left dozens trapped.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu framed the demolitions as part of a “prelude” to a wider invasion. But to many Palestinians, the destruction has a more sinister logic: the clearing of space for Donald Trump’s so-called “New Riviera Plan.”
A Vision Of Towers, Hotels, And Empty Land:
Leaked documents in late August revealed the GREAT Trust, a U.S.-administered body proposed to oversee Gaza for a decade, envisioning a $100 billion redevelopment scheme. Branded the “Riviera of the Middle East,” it promises smart cities, luxury resorts, highways, ports, and an airport on the very land now being bombed to dust.
The plan calls for the temporary relocation of Gaza’s 2.2 million residents, either abroad or to “secure zones” generally known as “concentration camps”, within the enclave. Those who “voluntarily” depart would be offered $5,000 in cash and four years of food and rent subsidies. Landowners would receive digital tokens redeemable for apartments in newly built “AI-driven smart cities.”
U.S. President Donald Trump outlined the vision bluntly in February:
“We’re going to take over Gaza, remake it as the Riviera. They’re not going back because they’ll have much better housing elsewhere.”
For critics, the language stripped away any pretence. Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies said:
“This is about creating conditions where Palestinians cannot survive in Gaza. It’s the textbook definition of ethnic cleansing.”
From War Zone To Real Estate Zone:
The reality unfolding on the ground bears a disturbing resemblance to the plan’s blueprint. Entire neighbourhoods are being erased: high-rises where thousands once lived are systematically destroyed, under the pretext of “terror towers”, refugee camps are bombed, and families are forced onto roads heading south.
Journalist Maha Hussaini, reporting from Gaza, wrote:
“The bombs and bulldozers are not just weapons; they are tools of real estate. Gaza is being cleared for the Riviera Plan.”
Philip Grant of Trial International warned that the scheme amounted to:
“A blueprint for mass deportation, marketed as development … potentially a case of international crimes on an unimaginable scale.”
Regional Pushback:
The plan has sparked outrage across the Middle East.
- Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi insisted Gaza must be rebuilt “without displacing Palestinians from their land.”
- The Arab League rejected Trump’s trusteeship model, instead endorsing a $53 billion Egypt-led reconstruction initiative to allow Palestinians to remain.
- Arab diplomats privately warn that accepting the plan would amount to collusion in “ethnic cleansing wrapped in investment language.”
Even some Western allies have been uneasy. A Guardian investigation revealed that Tony Blair’s Institute was involved in preliminary calls with Trump’s team. Blair’s office denied drafting the proposal but did not dispute engaging with its architects.
Law vs. Power:
Under international law, forcible population transfer, even when couched as “voluntary relocation”, is prohibited. Rights groups warn that the offer of cash payouts cannot make displacement legal when it is born from military destruction.
A senior UN humanitarian official, speaking anonymously due to political sensitivities, told reporters:
“If you bomb people’s homes into dust, then pay them to leave, that is not voluntary. It is coercion on a mass scale.”
Two Competing Futures:
The war has become more than a military campaign. It is a struggle over Gaza’s future identity.
| Today’s Gaza | Trump’s Riviera Plan |
| Families sheltering in ruins, over 100,000 dead | “Smart” coastal cities and AI-powered housing |
| Famine, aid obstruction, and collapsing health care | $100 billion mega-projects, luxury hotels |
| Mass displacement into tents and ruins | Relocation incentives, land-for-token schemes |
| Palestinian resistance refusing erasure | U.S. trusteeship for a decade, foreign developers |
Conclusion: Fascism, Faith, And Fortune Converge In Gaza:
The systematic destruction of Gaza is no longer explicable solely as a military campaign. It is the collision point of fascist ideology, religiously driven ethnic cleansing, and billionaire-backed profit-seeking, embodied in Donald Trump’s “New Riviera Plan.”
Fascism in Power:
Within Israel, far-right leaders such as Itamar Ben Gvir, the National Security Minister, and Bezalel Smotrich, the Finance Minister, have repeatedly called for the “voluntary migration” of Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank, a euphemism long understood as forced expulsion. Both openly frame Palestinian survival on the land as incompatible with the Zionist project.
Ben Gvir recently declared:
“Our problem is not with Hamas, but with all Arabs who claim this land. Gaza must be Jewish.”
These statements are not fringe; they represent the ideological backbone of Netanyahu’s government, which is using military might to implement what many scholars recognise as fascist ethno-nationalism.
Religious Justification for Ethnic Cleansing:
The violence is further sanctified by religious Zionist currents that present the war as divinely ordained. Hardline rabbis have invoked biblical injunctions to justify Gaza’s destruction, describing Palestinians as “Amalek”, a scriptural enemy to be annihilated. This framing transforms ethnic cleansing into a religious duty, blurring the line between theological extremism and state policy.
Hamas and other Palestinian groups argue that this reveals the true nature of the war: not merely political or military, but religiously and racially motivated genocide.
Billionaire Coercion and the Riviera Plan:
On the U.S. side, Trump’s GREAT Trust framework for Gaza brings in hedge funders, Gulf investors, and real estate magnates eager to profit from Gaza’s “redevelopment.” According to investigative reports, figures close to the Trump Organisation, U.S. private equity firms, and even Israeli tech entrepreneurs are exploring roles in the $100 billion “Riviera” scheme.
For these actors, war is not a tragedy but a market opportunity. The destruction of towers like Al-Salam or Al-Roya is the literal demolition phase of a redevelopment plan. Once Palestinians are expelled, their land and coastline become prime assets for hotels, ports, and luxury real estate.
As one Palestinian analyst, Mariam Barghouti, put it:
“The genocide in Gaza is the foundation stone of Trump’s Riviera Plan. It is capitalism weaponised with bombs and sanctified by religion.”
The Collapse of Law and Freedom:
International law is buckling under this triple pressure of fascism, religious extremism, and billionaire coercion. Humanitarian protections are treated as optional. Forced displacement is disguised as “voluntary relocation.” Genocide is repackaged as “redevelopment.”
What is at stake is not only Gaza’s survival, but the survival of the very idea of universal rights. If Gaza is emptied and rebuilt as a Riviera, it will normalise a world in which:
- Fascist governments justify ethnic cleansing as national destiny.
- Religious ideology provides the moral alibi for genocide.
- Billionaires turn war zones into profit zones, while the law is silenced.
A Global Warning:
Gaza is thus more than a war zone; it is a test case. If the Riviera Plan proceeds, it will establish a new global model: where bombs and bulldozers pave the way for investors, where capital thrives on corpses, and where freedom itself collapses under fascism, faith, and fortune.
The world must now decide whether to uphold law, rights, and survival, or stand aside as a new order of profit-driven ethnic cleansing takes hold.
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