I have a question for you. Who owns Gaza? Not whether Gaza is controlled by Hamas, or by Donald Trump, but who owns individual parcels of land in Gaza, and who owns the (now mostly ruined) buildings, or condominium units in buildings, on the land of Gaza? These seem like basic questions, don’t they? But you don’t hear them being asked.

I looked up Gaza Land Law on my phone and saw Google AI’s description of it as being “a complex and multilayered system, consisting of a mix of legislation from successive governing powers and international law.” It is described as a “patchwork” of the Ottoman Land Code of 1858, British Mandate ordinances (1918-1947), Egyptian military orders (1947-1967), Israeli military orders (1967-1995), and Palestinian Authority regulations from 1995 onward. Much of Israel’s action, which included confiscating land for military corridors, etc., has been viewed by the United Nations and the International Court of Justice as illegal, and obviously the destruction of property and the displacement caused by the war that started two years ago has exacerbated that problem. All of this is further complicated by the loss of land records during the recent war, and before, as well as competing claims that pre-exist the war.

You can see that this will make for a lot of work for not only the lawyers (if only anyone can compensate them) and for those who will put together the new government for Gaza.

Lest you think that the new government will be easily created by Jared Kushner and Tony Blair over lunch, I have read that there is already disturbing unrest in Gaza that may lead to problems that, again, no one had considered. As the Israeli army moves away from large segments of the land, as the almost 2 million displaced residents of Gaza begin to wander back to the areas of their former homes, and as food and other supplies remain in short supply and subject to chaotic forms of distribution, unrest is sure to occur.

Already, Hamas appears to be stepping up to take control. This is, of course, the opposite as to what is “supposed to happen”. Hamas still feels itself in control (and legally, isn’t it?), and has taken on the responsibility to keep as much order in Gaza as possible. Rather than cede power and give up its weaponry, what I have seen is that Hamas (somewhat, I guess, like Donald Trump) is activating 7,000 reservists, presumably giving them some sort of weaponry, and sending them out to keep a intra-Gaza civil war from breaking out. As far as we know, Hamas still has the loyalty of the majority of the population, but certainly not the loyalty of the entire population and, in a situation as volatile as that which the Gaza residents are in, opposition is certain to arise, and attempts to silence the opposition will be the result. Of course, if unrest occurs that Hamas cannot control, or if Hamas is successfully removed from power, then what? Will the Israeli army move back in? Will the Gazans simply be permitted to kill each other? Will one or more Arab armies take control? There is a plan for an International Stabilization Force to take control, but there is no assurance that such a Force will be allowed to move into Gaza without opposition.

Several days ago, Hamas, along with Islamic Jihad and other groups, made it clear that they do not want to trade one occupational force for another, that they want any future government of Gaza to be controlled by Palestinians. We don’t know what this means in practice, but we can imagine.

In the meantime, Trump and team in their 20 point plan, has imagined the creation of an independent body of Palestinian technical experts, with no political affiliation, to function as the country’s internal governmental control body, under the supervision or direction of an international entity which will be led by none other than Donald Trump, with significant assistance from Tony Blair. It will remain in charge until a sufficient number of Palestinian successors can be located and trained, and until the Palestinian Authority can be remade so that it no longer looks like the Palestinian Authority and is viewed as competent to take over governance.

One of the main jobs of the temporary Trump government will be to solicit and accept proposals for the rebuilding of the country and for development proposals which will provide jobs and economic stabilization for the strip. Everything, of course, is to be done in coordination with Gaza’s neighbor, Israel. While it has been estimated that over $50 billion will be required for basic rebuilding of the strip (World Bank in Feb 2025), nothing has been said about the sources of those funds (presumably Saudi and UAE sources, for the most part, or Trump’s friends?), and certainly nothing has been said about compensating individual Gaza residents for their property losses, or other losses, or compensating individual Gaza enterprises for their losses. And of course no one involved in the 20 point plan is suggesting that Israel should have any responsibility for the damages that it has brought upon Gaza’s population.

Well, you have to start somewhere, and I guess the hostage/prisoner swap, scheduled to take place today or tomorrow, is as good a place as any. It is well beyond time for the Israeli hostages to be returned, and beyond sad that so many have perished, but remember that Israel is turning over 2000 prisoners, including many hard core prisoners convicted of murder and other such crimes, although all of them will apparently not be returning to Gaza, but are being sent elsewhere. I would imagine (hard to imagine otherwise) that these 2000 newly freed, and presumably bitter, Palestinians will not be, by and large, strong advocates for peace, and that some will immediately fall into the ranks of the opposition to the Trump proposals.

We shall see.