"Here in Gaza, we joke about the master plan' [presented by Kushner]. We laugh at the fact that he promised us we'd be rich and be living the Riviera of the Middle East [] Actually, we're running away from our feelings because what's happening is out of our hands, out of the hands of ordinary people. Others make crazy, stupid decisions, and we pay the price."
"I'm just waiting for them to open the Rafah crossing so I can leave and reunite with my family [who left in 2024, in the early months of the invasion]. Many people feel the same way, Faiza explains in a voice message, as Israel has prevented free access to Gaza for the foreign press since the beginning of the war more than two years ago."
A proposed megaproject envisioned Gaza as a Dubai-like metropolis and named a committee of Palestinian technocrats, but its Arabic name was printed left-to-right with disconnected letters. The plan was detached from daily reality as Israeli bombings (amid an official ceasefire) killed five people the same day, a baby died of hypothermia, and hundreds of thousands sheltered in tents in rain and cold. Many Gazans lack electricity, cook on fires, navigate sewage and floods, and pay to charge devices. People mock the 'master plan' and feel powerless while awaiting the reopening of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, which has been closed since Israel seized it a year and a half ago and remains a key ceasefire commitment.
Read at english.elpais.com
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