The US company Arkel International will build an outpost in Palestinian territory under the control of the Israeli army, a far cry from the ostentatious reconstruction plan promised by the Washington administration.
The self-styled “Peace Council,” established by Donald Trump to manage the Gaza Strip after its near-total destruction and his plan to exterminate the Gazan population, has awarded its first construction contract in the area. Far from promises of civilian reconstruction or basic infrastructure, the first contract will be used to build a military base.
As revealed this Thursday by The Guardian , the contract – still in the final stages – has been awarded to Arkel International, a Louisiana-based firm with a long history of contracts with the Pentagon and previous operations in occupation scenarios such as Iraq.
The initial project consists of a post designed to house approximately 150 Moroccan military personnel. The facilities will initially include tents, cots, portable toilets, and washing stations, serving as the first phase of what is envisioned as a larger military installation to accommodate up to 5,000 soldiers from the International Stabilization Force (ISF).
The site is located one kilometer from the border and within 60% of Gazan territory under direct control of the Israeli army, and also has rapid evacuation routes to Israeli territory.
While more than two million Palestinians continue to live in squalid, makeshift camps after the destruction of more than 80% of the buildings in the Gaza Strip, the operational priority of the US agency has been the deployment of military control infrastructure.
The managing body, chaired by Trump and co-directed by his son-in-law Jared Kushner and businessman Steve Witkoff, had presented earlier this year a megaproject called “New Gaza” , characterized by skyscrapers and commercial development zones.
However, internal records and awarded contracts confirm that the intervention has been drastically reduced to security operations and military control, while Israel maintains its armed presence on the ground and opposes any effective path to Palestinian sovereignty.
