Staff from the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) participated in a post-war Gaza real estate venture aiming to turn the enclave into a for-profit trade zone, according to the Financial Times(FT).

The project envisioned artificial islands, blockchain-based real estate, and what was branded the “Trump Riviera.”

Leaked documents revealed the involvement of TBI in a plan to expel Palestinians and lure investors to rebuild the enclave

News Desk

The plan, titled “The Great Trust,” was led by Israeli businessmen and used financial models developed inside Boston Consulting Group (BCG). It was shared with US President Donald Trump's administration and proposed “paying half a million Palestinians to leave the area and attracting private investors to develop Gaza” – an ethnic cleansing incentive framed as economic relief.

FT confirmed two TBI staff members participated in calls and message threads with the group. 

An internal TBI document titled “Gaza Economic Blueprint” was shared among participants, including proposals for artificial islands, a deep-water port linking Gaza to the India–West Asia–Europe corridor, blockchain trade infrastructure, and low-tax special economic zones.

The document described the war as having “created a once-in-a-century opportunity to rebuild Gaza from first principles … as a secure, modern prosperous society.” 

While it mirrored parts of the Israeli proposal, FT noted it “did not refer to the relocation of Palestinians,” a policy “championed by US President Donald Trump earlier this year.”

TBI initially told FT that it had “no input whatever” in the project, and that the story was “categorically wrong.” But after being presented with evidence of message group participation and the internal TBI document, a spokesperson clarified, “We have never said TBI knew nothing about what this group was working on or that they weren’t on calls in which the group discussed their plans.”

The spokesperson added, “It would be wrong to suggest that we were working with this group to produce their Gaza plan.”

“The Great Trust” proposal placed all public land in Gaza into a trust, with assets to be sold via blockchain tokens. Private landowners could exchange their property for a permanent housing unit. 

The plan projected that 25 percent of Gaza's population would be expelled, reducing reconstruction costs. “$23,000 savings on every Palestinian relocating,” one slide read. This financial engineering of displacement repackaged war crimes as cost-cutting.

Slides featured branding for Tesla, Ikea, and Amazon Web Services “in a cynical attempt to court Gulf capital and US tech firms,” FT said – though none were aware of their inclusion. 

FT reveals TBI’s involvement in an Israeli plan to empty Gaza, sell its land on blockchain, and replace Palestinians with resorts and investors – a scheme BCG disavowed after firing consultants who secretly modeled it.

One source close to the project told FT it was “an economic exploration of the ideas brought by President Trump,” who in February proposed that Gaza be depopulated and turned into “the Riviera of the Middle East,” while another source insisted the effort was to create “a better future for Gaza.”

https://thecradle.co/articles/tony-blair-institute-linked-to-israeli-scheme-to-ethnically-cleanse-gaza

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