Saeed Naqvi

It quite beats me that President Donald Trump is willing to go thousands of miles across the oceans to empty Gaza of Palestinians and take it over to develop the seafront as a Riviera. “Beautiful, beautiful,” he said smacking his lips.

The Sunday Essay

He will be poaching in the land promised by the Bible exclusively for Jews. Well, Miriam Adelson, Billionaire-owner of Las Vegas Sands, a Jewish philanthropist who donated $100 million to Trump’s campaign can be enlisted as a partner for the Riviera project. The Biblical Red line will then not be crossed.

I was puzzled when a study of the UNCTAD Unrealized Potential of Palestinian Oil and Gas Reserves swam into my ken. “Geologists and resource economists have confirmed that the Mediterranean off the Gaza strip has 122 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.”

The study concludes: “What could be a source of wealth and opportunities can also prove disastrous if these common resources are exploited individually and exclusively without due regard to international law and norms.”

In June 2024 Israel gave preliminary approval for the development of a gas field off the Gaza strip. Benjamin Netanyahu told Reuters that the “Gaza Marine Project” would require security coordination with the Palestinian Authority and Egypt. Was Netanyahu’s approval of a project that sidelines the Palestinians from their natural wealth a provocation that caused Hamas to fast forward the October 7 attack which must have been in the works for years?

The intriguing fact is that this gas and oil angle to the Gaza story is nowhere in focus even though the Israel-Hamas war and the relentless Israeli bombing of Gaza have received unprecedented media attention.

According to Reuters, its reporter drew a blank when he asked the Palestinian Authority for a comment: “We can’t take positions based on a statement made to the media.”

Hamas official Ismail Rudwa was blunt: “We reaffirm that our people in Gaza have rights to their natural resources.” And this was said barely three months before October 7.

If the mother of all gas finds is in the bargain, why would Israel make a gift of it to those who Netanyahu, Ben Gvir and Smotrich consider “animals” or “Barbarians”? The holy scriptures sanction the territory for Jewish people only. The two-state solution would give the Palestinians exclusive access to the gas.

United Nations released this video of the Palestinians returning to their home after the ceasefire:

Forcibly displaced Palestinians inside #Gaza Strip have started to return to their homes in the north amid a ceasefire. Many hope to unite with family members they have not seen since the war began, while some can only pay respects and bury their remains. pic.twitter.com/tpOSe3aKdl

— United Nations Geneva (@UNGeneva) January 29, 2025

Trump’s outrageous plan for a Riviera of the Middle East in Gaza should be seen alongside his interesting 1987 book The Art of the Deal. “I aim very high, and then I just keep pushing and pushing to get what I am after.” Who knows, he may have thrown a boulder in the pond to see how far the ripples go. Netanyahu and his extreme right cabinet colleagues have been mollified.

“All hell will break loose” should Hamas not release all hostages by Saturday, he thundered. In his book Trump talks of hyperbole as a tactic. Faced with this threat Hamas has not exactly buckled. They have not announced the release of all the hostages as “ordered” by Trump but only three as the agreement stipulates. Will this much keep Trump in humour or as per his tactics in the book he will “push and push”? Will he tactically blow his top if all hostages are not released as demanded by him?

One of the principles enunciated by him is that the “best deal is one in which both sides get something.” So, hope is not exactly out of order. The Saudi foreign ministry has stated that they will not participate in any post-war program for Gaza that removes the Palestinian population.

Is this Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s final position? Or is he amenable to persuasion? There is a persistent chorus in the Western media about the need for new energy to place the Abraham Accords on track. The process has no meaning without Saudi Arabia being enlisted.

There are reasons why the Saudis cannot come on board easily. The gruesome pictures of genocide in Gaza have shaken the Arab, like people everywhere. Saudis are not exempt from the guilt that all Arabs passively watched the brutalities heaped on the Palestinians in Gaza for a full 17 months. Arab regimes are now lining up against the Resistance movements that did help Gazans.

Also, it is not easy for the Saudis to abandon the entente with Iran which has been diligently supervised by China. Saudi-Iran rapprochement is bad enough for the West and Zionism combined, what riles them more is the Chinese sponsorship of it.

In the backdrop of recent conflicts has been the echo chamber resonating with the chant of Western decline – the loss of global dominance. Those uneasy with this trend are unsettled even more when the new Secretary of State Marco Rubio talks of a multipolar world order. This is a shift in the US position.

Enthusiasts of the Arab Riviera in Gaza are trying to persuade MBS that his NEOM project, the futuristic city on the Red Sea will be splendidly coherent with the Riviera in Gaza. More US pressure on MBS will manifest itself when the time comes for him to bid for the Saudi throne after the ailing King Salman. A Crown Prince does not automatically become King as the Crown Prince’s experience shows.

After King Abdullah’s death, Prince Muqrim became Crown Prince. After three months he was replaced by Prince Nyef. On June 21, 2017, Nyef was deposed. Prince Mohammad bin Sultan’s ascension was followed by high drama. Guests at Riyadh’s luxurious Ritz Carlton hotel were hurriedly parceled off to other hotels. Nearly 300 of the Saudi elite, royalty, businessmen were detained in Ritz Carlton apparently on charges of corruption. Speculation was that the move forestalled rebellion.

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As the time of reckoning approaches, MBS will need all manner of support. The US, an integral part of the Saudi system, will have a trump card to play then.