Palestine is ‘not for sale’: Foreign Ministry
Palestine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has pushed back on Israel’s “expansionist plans” in response to comments from Israel’s top diplomat, Gideon Saar.
“The Palestinian people remain on their land, and those who must leave are the racist settler invaders”, the ministry wrote on X. “The time has come for the world to reject a rogue state that violates international law and practices ethnic cleansing daily, and to stand up and confront gangs of terrorist settlers who believe they can erase the Palestinian reality and impose their expansionist plans on the Palestinian people.”
Palestine is “not for sale, and Israel will not succeed,” the ministry added.
The statement came after Saar’s explosive speech yesterday at a United Nations Security Council meeting, in which he rejected criticism of Israel’s plans to effectively annex the occupied West Bank and claimed that “No other nation … has a stronger right than our historical and documented right to the land of the Bible”.
As we reported earlier, Saar praised Trump’s Board of Peace and said Israel “will work toward its success”.
What are the board’s real estate plans for Gaza?
Trump has often invoked the Gaza Strip as a lucrative real estate opportunity, but we now have more details about what the executive board envisions for the enclave – and the estimated monetary value they are placing on it.
- The board refers to the plans as “New Gaza” and “New Rafah”, pledging to first build 100,000 homes in Rafah for 500,000 people and dedicate $5bn to infrastructure.
- In the longer term, housing will expand to encompass 400,000 homes “for the entirety of the population”, Apollo Global Management CEO Mark Rowan said, with more than $30bn in infrastructure investments.
- Apparent AI renderings for the projects – publicised by a promotional video at the end of the meeting – included sparkling towers, manmade waterways and suburban-looking roads and houses.
- Gaza will be “connected to the world through an Abrahamic gateway”, the video promised, showing a rendering of a road “linking it with Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and extending to India and Europe”.
- In total, Rowan valued the coastline, future housing stock and infrastructure at $115bn. “It just needs to be unlocked and financed,” he said.
- There was no mention of where Palestinians would live during construction, nor how new properties would be allocated. The board has previously said development will also include tourism and industrial zones, but have provided no further details.
Trump's Ambitious Gaza Vision Is About to Hit the Gaping Chasm of Reality
https://www.haaretz.com/gaza/2026-02-20/ty-article/.premium/trumps-ambitious-gaza-vision-is-about-to-hit-the-gaping-chasm-of-reality/0000019c-7ac9-d460-a39c-7be9bf420000
For 2026 Gaza, the urgent needs are far more prosaic than the smart-city vision Trump proposes: Palestinians require a warm meal to break the fast and personal security for tomorrow, not a futuristic port. Without clear solutions on sovereignty, security and the diplomatic horizon, the gap between presentation slides and reality will deepen.
