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U.S. Pitches "Project Sunrise" to Turn Gaza into High-Tech Metropolis
(Wall Street Journal) Alexander Ward - Welcome to "Project Sunrise," the Trump administration's pitch to foreign governments and investors to turn Gaza's rubble into a futuristic coastal destination. A team led by top White House aides Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff developed a draft proposal to convert the enclave into a gleaming metropolis. In 32 pages of PowerPoint slides, the plan outlines steps to take Gaza residents from tents to penthouses and from poverty to prosperity. The project would cost $112 billion over 10 years. The U.S. would commit to supporting nearly $60 billion in grants and guarantees on debt. Supporters of the project insist that letting a burgeoning humanitarian crisis fester in Gaza is a far worse alternative. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday, "You are not going to convince anyone to invest money in Gaza if they believe another war is going to happen in two, three years." The presentation is labeled "sensitive but unclassified," and doesn't go into details about which countries would fund Gaza's rebuilding. Nor does it specify where precisely the 2 million displaced Palestinians would live during reconstruction. Steven Cook, a senior fellow for the Middle East at the Council on Foreign Relations, said, "Nothing happens until Hamas disarms. Hamas will not disarm, so nothing will happen." U.S. officials say "Project Sunrise" shows the administration is now directly engaged in nation-building in Gaza. Cook added, "If they say they aren't nation-building, they hope people will believe it. But they are nation-building."