by AFP at The Times of Israel
Ali Shaath, a Gazan native and longtime civil servant, touts his plans for rebuilding Strip after 2 years of war, including pushing rubble into sea in order to reclaim land
Gaza native and former Palestinian Authority deputy minister Ali Shaath will head the new technocratic committee set to administer the devastated Gaza Strip, mediating countries announced on Wednesday.
A seasoned civil servant largely unknown to the wider public, Shaath was born in the southern city of Khan Younis in 1958, later leaving to study in Cairo, a family member told AFP.
He became a civil engineer, and previously served as the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority’s deputy minister of planning and international cooperation, as well as undersecretary for the ministry of transportation and communications, among other portfolios.
In a technical and detail-oriented interview on Palestinian Basma Radio on Wednesday, Shaath spoke at length on rebuilding the Gaza Strip, ravaged by more than two years of war and intensive bombing.
“We are not talking about ‘reconstruction’ but construction anew,” he said, highlighting the immediate need for shelter for Gaza’s 2.2 million residents, almost all of whom have been displaced at least once during the war…
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