The planned design for the proposed island off the coast of Gaza. (Credit: Israeli Ministry of Transportation and Intelligence via Euronews)
Israel's foreign minister, Israel Katz, pushed the idea of creating an artificial island off the coast of Gaza during a meeting with European Union foreign ministers on Monday, reported several news outlets.
During the meeting, Katz reportedly played a video for the EU ministers that dates back to 2017 when he served as transport and intelligence minister and first proposed the project.
When the video was first unveiled by Katz in 2017, the project was expected to cost upwards of $5 billion over the span of several years to create the 534-hectare island that would be used to inspect cargo and people going into Gaza by sea. It would also have a desalination plant, power station and cargo port with an openness to discussing establishing an airport in the future. There would also be a 4.5-kilometer bridge connecting the island to the enclave that would allow cargo to be unloaded.
"In addition to its humanitarian and economic importance, and distinct security advantages, the artificial island initiative will strengthen the cooperation and relations between Israel and the countries in the region," the video's narrator says, according to Reuters.
The project was first pitched to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2011 who had told him to put a plan together that "has been under examination for many months" by experts, Reuters reported at the time, adding that an international force would manage the island for "at least 100 years."
A spokesperson for the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority told Reuters in 2011 that this idea was "pure fantasy" and that Israel was only trying to "divert attention from the real problems of Gaza resulting from the Israeli siege."
According to the New York Times, Katz's presentation left many on the European side confused as it had little to do with Israel's ongoing offensive in Gaza that has killed over 25,000 people and displaced an estimated 85 percent of Gaza's population nor the possibility of Palestinian statehood and a two-state solution.
"This didn’t have much to do with what we were discussing," Josep Borrell, the EU's foreign policy chief, said of the island following the meeting, according to the Times.
In the years prior and since Katz released the video for the project in 2017, the minister had been advocating for the creation of the island although it largely failed to gain any real traction.