At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last month, Jared Kushner, billionaire real estate scion and son-in-law to United States President Donald Trump, presented his vision of a “New Gaza”: glittering skyscrapers, waterfront tourism and a logistical corridor connecting a demilitarised enclave to the world.But 3,000km (1,864 miles) away, on the bombed and dusty lands of the Gaza Strip, not a single brick has been laid as the distressing reality of the Palestinian territory is now measured not in new buildings but in tonnes of debris – specifically, 61 million tonnes of it.After a fragile “ceasefire” was reached between Israel and Hamas in October, Israel’s air strikes may have let up, but the killings have not stopped, signalling a new, quieter war.Meanwhile, there is no clarity on the potential entry of cement and steel rods – crucial construction materials whose entry Israel has blocked. (Al Jazeera)According to the United Nations, 92 percent of Gaza has been destroyed during Israel’s more than two-year genocidal war, and the cost of its rebuilding is estimated at $70bn.Yet analysts and urban planners warned that Gaza’s reconstruction is being designed not to restore Palestinian life but to “re-engineer” it – turning the basic human right of shelter into a tool of political extortion and alleged demographic change.“Reconstruction is not the ‘day after’ the war; it is the continuation of war by bureaucratic and economic means,” Ihab Jabareen, a researcher specialising in Israeli affairs, told Al Jazeera. Advertisement ‘Cement faucet’Jabareen argued that for the Israeli security establishment, reconstruction is the ultimate bargaining chip, allowing Israel to move from a strategy of direct military occupation to one of “sovereignty by flow”.“Whoe …
