New town? UAE to build Palestinian town for 30,000 in Gaza after pullout
Photo: GPO
Gulf state to build Palestinian town
Gaza town to go up on site of demolished Jewish settlements, United Arab Emirates says
DUBAI - United Arab Emirates is to build a new town for Palestinians on the site of demolished Jewish settlements once Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip, state news agency WAM said.
It said the development, to be named the Khalifa bin Zayed City after UAE President Sheikh Khalifa, would house 30,000 to 40,000 Palestinians at a cost of at least USD 100 million.
It was not clear where the town would be built.
Israel has said that next month it will begin the removal of 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza, built since 1967.
A new neighborhood opened in the northern Gaza Strip earlier this year where the UAE spent some USD 55 million to house Palestinians whose homes had been destroyed by Israeli military actions during the since 2000.
Israel has agreed with the Palestinian Authority to demolish all the homes in its Gaza enclaves.
The UAE, an affluent trade and tourism hub in the Gulf, has no diplomatic relations with Israel and links formal ties to the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
