Israeli businessmen pitch to tokenize & sell Gaza land via controversial ‘Great Trust’ program

A group of Israeli businessmen presented a slide deck to the Trump administration on a new Gaza project called the “Great Trust.” 

The concept envisions a post-war Gaza in which all public land is placed in a trust designed to encourage and promote economic development in the region. The “Great Trust” would then sell Gaza’s public land to investors as tokenized assets on the blockchain.

The “Great Trust” will enable Gazans to transfer privately owned land to the trust in exchange for tokens. These tokens will give Gazans the right to own a permanent living space.

The trust also proposed to compensate 500,000 Palestinians to leave the strip to attract investors to the area. The slide deck does not name any specific blockchain platforms or vendors.

The “Great Trust” is an acronym for “Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration, and Transformation.”

The project’s financial model, allegedly created by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), assumes a 25% voluntary relocation rate among Gazans. Each Palestinian would be offered $9,000 to encourage permanent departure. The model further projects a GDP of $324 billion.

The project teases a ‘Trump Riviera’ and an ‘Elon Zone’ 

The Financial Times reported seeing the project presentation where the group of Israeli businessmen showcased the controversial concept of a post-war Gaza with a “Trump Riviera” and an “Elon Musk Smart Manufacturing Zone.”  

The “Gaza Riviera” is a concept with artificial islands similar to those in Dubai. The Riviera is envisioned as a low-tax special economic zone with blockchain-based trade initiatives and a sea port that connects Gaza to the India–Middle East–Europe economic corridor.

One slide envisions a manufacturing zone in northern Gaza that would host American electric-vehicle companies and factories. These facilities would receive shipments of materials and minerals from neighboring countries, assemble batteries and vehicles, and export them to Europe.

The factories would be powered by gas from the Gaza-Marine and photovoltaic (PV) energy, and would hire skilled and low-cost workers. Delivering the vehicles to Europe would incur minimal costs since they would be shipped via Al-Arish Port with 0% tax. The initiative aims to compete with Chinese EV makers. 

The slide claimed that this arrangement would make EV companies profitable while “giving a better future for Palestinians and Israelis.”

The ‘Great Trust’ proposal features more projects and companies

The “Trump Riviera” and the “Elon Musk Smart Manufacturing Zone” are not the only projects. The slide deck names a total of ten so-called “Mega Projects,” including Gaza planned cities, the MBS Ring Highway, the MBZ Central Highway, Gaza infrastructure rebuild, an American Data Safe Haven, the Abrahamic Infrastructure Corridor (including a Gaza–Israel gas pipeline), the Abraham Gateway logistics hub in Rafah, a regional water hub, and a new Gaza seaport and airport.

According to the Financial Times, the “Great Trust” proposal included logos of giant companies like Tesla, Amazon, and IKEA, suggesting investor interest. However, none of those companies were involved or consulted. 

Sources said that the “Great Trust” deck was compiled in April, ahead of the Israeli and US attacks on Iran. One person said to FT that “It is the work of a group of business people who have worked tirelessly over the past 20 months to create a better future for Gaza.”