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As President Donald Trump formally inaugurated his so-called Board of Peace at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, his son-in-law Jared Kushner presented his vision of turning the Gaza Strip into an upscale seaside resort with gleaming skyscrapers and entirely new cities. The proposal is said to require an investment of at least $25 billion, and Kushner’s presentation showed a map of the besieged territory divided into different zones. This all comes as Palestinians in Gaza struggle to survive with little food or shelter amid ongoing Israeli restrictions on aid.

“It’s hard to take these people seriously. I mean, they’re buffoonish. But the problem is, is that they control the largest military and economy in the world,” says Sharif Abdel Kouddous, the Middle East and North Africa editor at Drop Site News. He calls the Board of Peace “a parody of a colonial body” and says the plan for Gaza will result in “ultimate control and subjugation” of the Palestinian population.

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: We begin today’s show looking at the Trump administration’s contested plans for a postwar Gaza. As President Trump formally inaugurated his so-called Board of Peace at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, presented his vision of turning Gaza into an upscale, futuristic seaside resort with gleaming skyscrapers and entirely new cities, an ambitious proposal that would require an investment of at least $25 billion.

Kushner outlined the so-called Gaza master plan as he presented slides, one of which showed a map of the besieged territory divided into different zones. Kushner said the first phase of the project would be to rebuild the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which was leveled by Israeli attacks. The Rafah border crossing with Egypt is expected to reopen next week. Families in Gaza fear Israel and the U.S. will move to forcibly displace them to another country.

This is Jared Kushner laying out his plan.

JARED KUSHNER: We’ve developed ways to redevelop Gaza. Gaza, as President Trump’s been saying, has amazing potential. And this is for the people of Gaza. We’ve developed it into zones. In the beginning, we were toying with the idea of saying, “Let’s build a free zone, and then we have a Hamas zone.” And then we said, “You know what? Let’s just plan for plan for catastrophic success.”

AMY GOODMAN: President Trump presented his concluding remarks on the plan Thursday, saying, quote, “We’re going to be very successful in Gaza.”

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I’m a real estate person at heart. And it’s all about location. And I said, “Look at this location on the sea. Look at this beautiful piece of property, what it could be for so many people. It’ll be so, so great. People that are living so poorly are going to be living so well.”

AMY GOODMAN: This all comes as Palestinians in Gaza struggle to survive with little food or shelter due to Israel’s relentless blockade of humanitarian aid. This is Mohammed Al-Qudra in Khan Younis responding to Trump’s plan for Gaza.

MOHAMMED AL-QUDRA: [translated] No matter how much he says, it’s all in vain. Why? Because we, as citizens, aren’t seeing any real change on the ground. The suffering remains the same. Rain. There are no tents, no shelters, as you can see, the destruction. Wood, we don’t have that. … President Trump announced that the second phase had begun, but we haven’t seen anything. People in al-Mawasi are living in tents, displaced. People in the east can’t reach their homes. You can hear the shooting, the shelling, day and night, martyrs.

AMY GOODMAN: For more, we’re joined by Sharif Abdel Kouddous, the award-winning journalist and Middle East-North Africa editor at Drop Site News. His new piece is headlined “Leaked Documents: ‘Planned Community’ in Rafah Would Force Palestinians into Israeli Panopticon.” He’s joining us from Los Angeles.

Sharif, thanks so much for being with us on Democracy Now! Start off by responding to what happened yesterday in Davos, Switzerland, President Trump, surrounded by many autocrats of the world, signing on to a charter agreement for the so-called Board of Peace, which Trump will lead even beyond his presidency, lead indefinitely. He personally has veto power and is in charge of the money, apparently a billion dollars a seat for those who will be part of this Board of Peace. If you can respond to that and then lay out what you’ve learned from leaked documents?

SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Right. Well, it’s a billion dollars to have permanent — a permanent seat. People who signed up get three years.

But, you know, if we look at the charter of the Board of Peace, there’s no mention of Palestine. There’s no mention of Palestinians. There’s no mention of Gaza. There’s no mention of the right of return. There’s no mention of the right to self-determination.

What it does say is that, you know, Trump is chairman for life, and it gives him these king-like powers, where he can only be replaced if he resigns or if he is deemed incapacitated under — but it needs to be a unanimous vote, that, you know, is kind of unattainable. He can appoint new member........

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