Davos, Jan 22 (.) Senior White House advisor and top presidential aide Jared Kushner presented his vision for Gaza at the Board of Peace signing ceremony in Davos on Thursday, saying that the next phase is to “work with Hamas on demilitarisation.”
As per Kushner, Washington plans to bring “free market economy principles to Gaza,” in a manner similar to the way his father-in-law, President Donald Trump is doing back in the US, reflecting a near-same exact mindset for the enclave as Trump.
Presenting his overall plan for Gaza in a slide, the scheme envisions a seaport and an airport, which will start with Rafah, then move northward in phases until Gaza City, adding “there is no plan B.”
Regarding the topic of demilitarisation, Kushner echoed Israel’s long-stated position and said that reconstruction can only commence across all sectors of the enclave, once Hamas has fully disarmed, albeit in a phased manner rather than in a full-out one.
As per the plan, the terror group’s heavy weapons will be immediately decommissioned, after which there will be phased and gradual culling of the group’s small arms, which will be decommissioned on a sector basis by the new Palestinian police.
In exchange for voluntary disarmament, Hamas members will be “rewarded with amnesty and reintegration, or safe passage.” Furthermore, some terrorists will be “integrated” into the new Palestinian police force after a process of “rigorous vetting,” according to the plan.
Once demilitarisation is completed and verified, the IDF will withdraw in a phased manner back to the security perimeter around Gaza, as the ISF takes in the reins of security.
After these steps are completed, the next 100 days will focus on aid and reconstruction, said Kushner, with a conference on investment for Gaza in Washington to be held the coming weeks.
He asked commenters to “calm down for 30 days” in criticism of countries like Israel, Turkey, and Qatar.
“Our goal here is peace between Israel and the Palestinian people. Everyone wants to live peacefully. Everyone wants to live with dignity.”
Giving off his own remarks, US special envoy Steve Witkoff, in his own remarks, thanked the Qatari, Turkish, and Egyptian mediators for their efforts before extending gratitude to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the country’s former strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer, and the current representative to the US on Gaza Michael Eisenberg.
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