The Tony Blair Institute (TBI) has appeared to have been involved in Donald Trump’s controversial plan to displace Gaza’s Palestinians inhabitants and make way for a post-war real estate development project.
Plans include a "Trump Riviera" and projects named after rulers of wealthy Gulf states, according to documents revealed by the Financial Times on Sunday.
Trump's shock announcement earlier this year was condemned by world governments as a plan to ethnically cleanse the Gaza Strip, something several Israeli officials have called for.
Palestinians outright rejected the scheme. which would have seen them banished from the coastal territory without the right to return. Trump later backtracked on the proposal.
The Gaza plan envisioned by TBI was reportedly created by a group if Israeli businessmen with the help of consultants at Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
The plan drawn up by BCG was based on the assumption that a quarter of Gaza’s Palestinians would "voluntarily" leave the enclave for good, then transforming the war-torn territory into a Dubai-like riviera with ports, airports, and railways.
TBI "categorically" denied any role in the plan in remarks made to FT, but the publication says two of its staff members reportedly took part in discussions related to the Gaza scheme.
One internal TBI document titled "Gaza Economic Blueprint" which circulated within the project group envisions infrastructural proposals such as a port linking Gaza to the India-Middle East-Europe corridor.
Passing through Israel and offering it great economic benefits, the India corridor would rival China's Belt and Road Initiative - something the US wants to block.
There has been widespread speculation since the onset of the Gaza war in October 2023 that one of Israel’s aims was to destroy and depopulate the territory to make way for the India-Mideast-Euro trade route.
Unlike the BCG proposal, TBI's proposal did not suggest displacing Palestinians, but the institute claims it was in a "listening mode" and that its document was one of many post-war scenarios being discussed for Gaza.
Israel's war in the enclave has killed over 56,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, with thousands more believed to be buried beneath the rubble.
The war has rendered the territory uninhabitable with its healthcare system and critical infrastructure decimated.