Israel Examining Building Artificial Island off Gaza
Man-made territory would provide control, jobs for Palestinians.
Island would be secured by international forces.
Similar ports already installed in nations across the globe.
Israel is seriously considering building a man-made island off the coast of Gaza to provide Palestinians an airport, seaport, new jobs and an internationally supervised export-import system, while assuring greater security for Israel.
The island would also further highlight Israel’s desire to allow Palestinians to run their own affairs in Gaza, from which Israel withdrew all of its citizens and military almost six years ago. The area would be controlled by an international entity such as NATO, which would be responsible for vessels and goods that enter and exit.
"This new state program designed for the full disengagement from Gaza will allow Palestinians to have a naval port and an airport, partly controlled by Israel, and will create hundreds of thousands of jobs and economic prosperity,” Israel’s Transportation Minister Israel Katz told The Israel Project Wednesday (March 30). “Many Israeli, Palestinian and international investors and businessmen already have expressed their interest in participating in the project. “
Katz, who is steering the estimated $6 billion-$10 billion project at the behest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said the 1.2- by 2.5-mile (2 by 4 km) island would have a 2.8-mile (4.5 km) bridge connecting it to Gaza. In addition to a seaport and airport, Katz has proposed that the island include hotels, and desalination and power plants. Construction would take about six years.
The island would largely resolve the problem of Israel having to examine imports to and exports from Gaza, which have been a security threat for Israel and a major point of contention for Palestinians in Gaza, officials said.
But a spokesman for Hamas, which took control of Gaza from the other main Palestinian faction in a violent coup, said the idea was “a Zionist effort to ... internationalize" Israel’s control of goods allowed in and out of Gaza.
The idea of building artificial islands is already a reality for numerous countries ranging from Dubai and Macao to Japan and Denmark, where similar harbors house airports, hotels and other amenities. Israel, inspired by those projects, reviewed 17 of them before authoring its own concept.