Middle East

'Gaza Riviera', Tony Blair's staff involved in Trump's project

However, the Tony Blair Institute denies the relocation of the inhabitants of the Strip

7 July 2025

L’ex primo ministro britannico Tony Blair (Photo by Jade GAO / AFP)

2' min read

The Tony Blair Institute took part in discussions regarding the project to develop a plan for post-war Gaza, which would boost the enclave's economy with a 'Trump Riviera' and an 'Elon Musk Smart Manufacturing Zone'. The Financial Times writes. The plan, illustrated in a series of slides seen by the Financial Times, was led by Israeli entrepreneurs and used financial models developed within the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to reimagine Gaza as a thriving commercial hub.

Entitled 'Great Trust' and shared with the Trump administration, the plan proposed paying half a million Palestinians to leave the area and attracting private investors to develop Gaza. Although the Tony Blair Institute (Tbi) neither drafted nor approved the final version of the slides, two staff members of the former British prime minister's institute participated in focus groups during the development of the plan, according to sources familiar with the project, writes the Financial Times. A lengthy paper on post-war Gaza, written by a Tbi staff member, was shared within the group for evaluation.

In un video AI la "riviera di Gaza" di Trump: soldi dal cielo e lusso

Documents included the idea of a 'Gaza Riviera' with artificial islands off the coast similar to those in Dubai, blockchain-based business initiatives, a deep-water port to connect Gaza to the India-Middle East-Europe economic corridor, and low-tax 'special economic zones'. The Tbi document stated that the war had 'created a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rebuild Gaza from its fundamentals, transforming it into a safe, modern and prosperous society'. However, there was no reference to the relocation of Palestinians, an idea supported by Trump but condemned internationally.

Contacted by the FT, the institute emphasised that its role in the contacts on this project was 'essentially in listening mode', stating that 'it would be wrong to imply that we were working with this group to draw up their plan for Gaza'. The TBI then added that Blair has been working for a 'better Gaza for its inhabitants' for the past 20 years: 'It was never about relocating its inhabitants, a proposal that the TBI has never drafted, developed or approved'.

The news of the Blair Institute's involvement in Trump's Gaza real estate projects brings to mind another fatal collaboration between Blair and the Americans. In 2003, at the time of George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq, then-Prime Minister Blair claimed that intelligence information showed that Saddam Hussein was in possession of weapons of mass destruction, weapons that were never found.

But that conviction of Blair as premier led Britain to participate in the invasion of Iraq. In 2016, the report of the independent commission led by Sir John Chilcot was published in Britain, confirming Blair's heavy responsibility for that decision taken to follow the American ally. A year after the report was published, Sir Chilcot told the BBC: 'Tony Blair has not been honest with the nation'. That report confirmed that the conflict could be avoided and the late Iraqi dictator posed no 'imminent danger to the world'. For Chilcot, the former prime minister's testimony at the enquiry was 'emotionally true' but was based more on personal beliefs than on facts.