Tony Blair's staff took part in 'Gaza Riviera' project

The National

18 hours ago

Plans outlined in a slide deck, titled the 'Great Trust', were shared with the US president proposed paying half a million Palestinians to leave the area and replacing them with private investors to develop Gaza.
According to the Financial Times, the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) did not author or endorse the final slide deck, but two members of its staff were involved in message groups and calls as the project developed.
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One 'lengthy' document on postwar Gaza, written by a TBI staff member, was reportedly shared within the group for consideration, according to people familiar with the work.
The document included a proposal of a 'Gaza Riviera' with artificial islands off the coast, blockchain-based trade initiatives, a deep-water port to tie Gaza into the India-Middle East-Europe economic corridor, and low-tax 'special economic zones'.
The TBI document reportedly claimed that Israel's devastating assault on Gaza had 'created a once-in-a-century opportunity to rebuild Gaza from first principles . . . as a secure, modern prosperous society'.
Although the Israeli businessmen's slide deck, which is more than 30 pages long, differed from the paper written by TBI's staff, there was some similarity the Finacial Times reported.
The institute's document did not refer to the relocation of Palestinians.
When first approached by the Financial Times regarding TBI's role in the project, a spokesperson said: 'Your story is categorically wrong . . . TBI was not involved in the preparation of the deck, which was a BCG deck, and had no input whatever into its contents.'
TBI were then provided details of a 12-person message group used for the project — including two TBI staff, BCG consultants and the Israeli businessmen — and an unpublished TBI document shared within the group titled 'Gaza Economic Blueprint'.
A TBI spokesperson then said: 'We have never said TBI knew nothing about what this group was working on or that they weren't on calls in which the group discussed their plans.'
TBI said that when meeting groups to discuss postwar plans, it is 'essentially in listening mode'.
The 'internal TBI document' looked at proposals 'being made by various parties . . . [and] is one of many such internal documents'.
'TBI emphatically did not provide its own internal document for the purposes of the BCG work,' it added.
TBI staff 'saw' the slide deck but 'didn't create it', the spokesperson said.
'It would be wrong to suggest that we were working with this group to produce their Gaza plan.'
TBI said Blair had sought a 'better Gaza for Gazans' for the past two decades: 'It has never been about relocating Gazans, which is a proposal TBI has never authored, developed or endorsed.'