But I think this plan of substantial real estate development might be one of the better possibilities for long-term peace in Gaza.
The biggest issue in the enclave for decades has been its lack of economic viability. The Israeli blockade has sealed it off from investment (also discouraged by the militancy of the Hamas government) and, of course, prevented the import of building materials. There is a bit of agriculture, but the primary sources of jobs are crossing the border every day to work in Israel or signing up with Hamas and its affiliates, which requires submitting to their ideological position.
It's why so many young men end up in the militias. Unemployment was running at about 45% even before the present conflict, with per capita income ranked around 150th in the world or below. It's a major driver of radicalism.
Assuming there is not mass displacement, large numbers of jobs in construction, then service industries and tourism thereafter will do a lot to change that economic picture. More prosperity will lessen the desperation and the attraction of extremist positions. If you can have a job and feed your family, why pick up a gun and risk being killed by the IDF?
The long-term historical resentments will not go away, the violence not cease entirely (plenty of people both inside and external to Gaza have vested interests and positions of authority to maintain). But it is likely to subside.
Take the example of Northern Ireland. The dividing lines for the Troubles were sectarian and nationalist, but the chief cause of it flaring up in the the late 1960s and early '70s was the economic decline of the old heavy industries in the Province, leading to Protestants trying to shut the Catholics out and large-scale unemployment in the latter group, which provided fertile recruiting ground for the PIRA. By the mid 1990s, that economic situation was well in the past and considerable investment was being promised. Along with revulsion at the violence and political compromise, the extremists were marginalised. A peace which has lasted pretty well was established - only recently coming under some threat during a cost of living crisis coupled with Brexit driving a wedge between North and South. [Post edited 22 Jan 12:52]
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