During an interview aired on Tuesday’s broadcast of Newsmax TV’s “The Record,” U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff stated that a full-on rebuilding of Gaza “can’t begin before somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 to 12 years, which puts the finishing touches on Gaza, pursuant to some sort of very credible master plan, at the 15 to 20-year mark.”
Witkoff said, “The phase three talks about a reconstruction of Gaza over a five-year period of time. That’s just an impossibility. It can never happen. We estimate that just cleaning out the unexploded ordinance is probably somewhere in the neighborhood of a two-year job. So, it’s almost as if you’ve got a minefield in the Gaza Strip today. Then, after that, you’ve got a cleanup effort from everything that was demolished, and that’s probably at least another three years. After that, you’ve got to x-ray, basically, take a subterranean look and understand what’s left of the stone that’s down below. It’s sort of like Swiss cheese down there. You’ve got tunnels that are crisscrossing it, and that’s degraded the foundations down there and probably has degraded where all the utility lines are working. So, from a real estate perspective, before you can figure out a master plan, you’ve got to understand what exists on the subterranean level. And my opinion is that that’s going to take years in the making. So, we estimate that a full-on Gaza build can’t begin before somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 to 12 years, which puts the finishing touches on Gaza, pursuant to some sort of very credible master plan, at the 15 to 20-year mark. So, the notion that we can do anything about Gaza in the immediate future, it just can’t happen. And I actually don’t believe and I think it’s irresponsible to be talking — to be letting people move back there in large amounts, because there are many dangerous conditions there.”
Host Greta Van Susteren then stated, “And then you’ve got the other problem…who’s going to govern Gaza? That’s the other problem. Certainly — Israel is certainly not going to let Hamas rebuild and govern Gaza. So, at some point, there’s got to be that discussion.”
Witkoff responded, “Well, I agree with you. Greta, there’s not a lot to govern there today. So, that’s kind of my point. That protocol agreement that I’m — that I have made reference to assumed a five-year reconstruction effort. That’s just preposterous. It’s — I’d call it wishful thinking. … Now, beyond that, and the president has said this, whoever’s going to govern can’t be a part of a terrorist organization, and Hamas is. So, we take direction from President Trump. He is the President and he is our — he’s my boss. And there’s not going to be — we’re just not going to have a governing council that includes Hamas.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
