How reconstruction became Israel’s new weapon of ‘silent transfer’ in Gaza

Experts warn the promise of reconstruction turns right to shelter into a tool of political extortion and alleged demographic change.

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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.