A slide titled ‘New Gaza’ is seen on a screen during an event announcing the charter for US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace initiative alongside the 56th annual World Economic Forum (WEF). (Photo: REUTERS/Denis Balibouse)

(REUTERS / Reuters)

Former Singapore President Halimah Yacob has criticised Donald Trump’s plans for a ‘New Gaza’, reminding the US President that Palestinians “were not consulted on how they want their homeland rebuilt.”

Images of dozens of skyscrapers stretching along the Mediterranean coast were among the slides recently presented during a ceremony at the World Economic Forum for Trump’s new Board of Peace.

“Promises to rebuild Gaza from scratch and includes residential towers, data centres, seaside resorts, parks, sports facilities and an airport. Sounds very much like a real estate development advertisement,” said Halimah in a Facebook post on Wednesday morning (4 Feb).

She highlighted two problems, the first being that Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people who were not consulted on how their homeland should be rebuilt. “Many still have family members buried under the millions of tons of rubble.”

The second problem, according to Singapore’s first woman head of state, is that Gaza is not a tourist destination. “Fulfilling that Gaza plan may result in elimination of existing neighbourhoods, historic sites and landmarks that are part of Gaza’s identity and history,” she said.

“Also, while this proposed massive construction takes place, where will the 2 over million Palestinians go? What’s the plan to provide for them? Really inconvenient questions but they need answers,” she added.

You can read Halimah Yacob’s comments in full in her Facebook post.