Arab leaders embrace Egypt's Gaza rebuilding plan

What happened

Arab leaders Tuesday unanimously endorsed a plan from Egypt to rebuild Gaza without displacing its Palestinian residents.

The $53 billion proposal was the Arab League's alternative to President Donald Trump's widely condemned plan to relocate the Palestinians to other countries while the U.S. developed Gaza into the "Riviera of the Middle East."

Who said what

Egypt's 112-page plan envisions rebuilding Gaza in stages by 2030, removing unexploded ordnance and recycling the 50 million tons of rubble, using some as landfill to expand Gaza's coast. The redeveloped enclave would have an airport, commercial harbor, large parks, ample housing and beachfront hotels. An administration of independent technocrats would govern Gaza until a reformed Palestinian Authority could take over. "Any reconstruction funding would require heavy buy-in from oil-rich Gulf Arab states," Reuters said.

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The fact that the summit "was held during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month when life and work typically slow down, was a sign of the urgency with which leaders in the Middle East are scrambling to prevent Trump's plan from coming to fruition," The Washington Post said. "We cannot accept illegal American projects and visions in the region," Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit said.

Israel's foreign ministry dismissed Egypt's proposal as "rooted in outdated perspectives." The White House said Trump "stands by his vision" and called the new plan unrealistic given that "Gaza is currently uninhabitable."

What next?

Egypt's proposal arrived as "the Israel-Hamas ceasefire is teetering," The New York Times said. While the proposal ruled out Hamas governing Gaza, it "sidesteps one of the thorniest questions of all: whether and how to disarm Hamas."