Gaza After the Conflict? Current Realities and Future Challenges
Gaza After the Conflict? Current Realities and Future Challenges
As Gaza navigates a fragile and intermittently disrupted ceasefire, the largely destroyed enclave stands at a critical crossroads between systemic collapse and a difficult path toward recovery. This online event offers a multidimensional assessment of the Gaza Strip’s current realities in light of the unprecedented destruction caused during the war between Hamas and Israel following the horrific attack on October 7, 2023. While limited progress has been made, conditions on the ground remain deeply precarious, marked by unresolved governance disputes, persistent security dilemmas, and an estimated reconstruction cost exceeding $50 billion. Against this backdrop, the Trump administration has advanced a 20-point plan for Gaza that envisions a gradual transition from emergency stabilization to longer-term governance, security, and reconstruction arrangements. The speakers will examine both the severe infrastructural constraints and the broader geopolitical challenges shaping the transition to “Phase Two” of this plan, as recently announced by the White House.
Speakers:
Shelly Culbertson is a senior researcher at RAND and professor of policy analysis at the RAND School of Public Policy. Her research focuses on disaster and post-conflict recovery, immigration and mass migration policy, refugees, the Middle East, global education, and international development. She conducted work to develop a spatial and infrastructure vision for the West Bank and Gaza, a housing plan for Gaza, and recovery in Gaza. Culbertson previously served as associate director of the Disaster Management and Resilience Program and director of the Infrastructure, Immigration, & Security Operations Program. Before RAND, she worked at the U.S. State Department on Turkey and at LMI Government Consulting. Culbertson is the author of The Fires of Spring: A Post Arab Spring Journey Through the Turbulent New Middle East (St. Martin's Press). She earned her M.P.A. from the School for Public and International Affairs, Princeton University.
Larry Garber is an adjunct professor at George Washington University and the University of Denver and a Senior Policy Fellow at J Street. He spent over 15 years as a senior official at USAID, including leading the USAID/West Bank-Gaza mission during the second intifada (1999–2004). In 2025, he consulted for the U.S. Institute for Peace, reviewing and writing about Gaza “day after” policy plans. A recognized expert in international development and comparative elections, he has observed elections in over 30 countries, including Palestinian elections in 2005, 2006, and 2022, and worked with organizations such as the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the National Democratic Institute, and the Carter Center. He previously served as CEO of the New Israel Fund (2004–2009) and holds degrees from Queens College and Columbia University.
Dr. Natan Sachs is a Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute. His research and commentary on U.S. foreign policy, Israeli foreign policy and domestic politics, and Middle East affairs have been widely published and frequently quoted in major news outlets. From 2012 to 2025, he served as a Fellow, Senior Fellow, and for eight years, Director of the Brookings Institution's Center for Middle East Policy. Sachs has taught as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and held fellowships at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute, Tel Aviv University's Dayan Center, and as a Fulbright Fellow in Indonesia. He holds a B.A. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a Ph.D. in political science from Stanford University.
As Gaza navigates a fragile and intermittently disrupted ceasefire, the largely destroyed enclave stands at a critical crossroads between systemic collapse and a difficult path toward recovery. This online event offers a multidimensional assessment of the Gaza Strip’s current realities in light of the unprecedented destruction caused during the war between Hamas and Israel following the horrific attack on October 7, 2023. While limited progress has been made, conditions on the ground remain deeply precarious, marked by unresolved governance disputes, persistent security dilemmas, and an estimated reconstruction cost exceeding $50 billion. Against this backdrop, the Trump administration has advanced a 20-point plan for Gaza that envisions a gradual transition from emergency stabilization to longer-term governance, security, and reconstruction arrangements. The speakers will examine both the severe infrastructural constraints and the broader geopolitical challenges shaping the transition to “Phase Two” of this plan, as recently announced by the White House.
Speakers:
Shelly Culbertson is a senior researcher at RAND and professor of policy analysis at the RAND School of Public Policy. Her research focuses on disaster and post-conflict recovery, immigration and mass migration policy, refugees, the Middle East, global education, and international development. She conducted work to develop a spatial and infrastructure vision for the West Bank and Gaza, a housing plan for Gaza, and recovery in Gaza. Culbertson previously served as associate director of the Disaster Management and Resilience Program and director of the Infrastructure, Immigration, & Security Operations Program. Before RAND, she worked at the U.S. State Department on Turkey and at LMI Government Consulting. Culbertson is the author of The Fires of Spring: A Post Arab Spring Journey Through the Turbulent New Middle East (St. Martin's Press). She earned her M.P.A. from the School for Public and International Affairs, Princeton University.
Larry Garber is an adjunct professor at George Washington University and the University of Denver and a Senior Policy Fellow at J Street. He spent over 15 years as a senior official at USAID, including leading the USAID/West Bank-Gaza mission during the second intifada (1999–2004). In 2025, he consulted for the U.S. Institute for Peace, reviewing and writing about Gaza “day after” policy plans. A recognized expert in international development and comparative elections, he has observed elections in over 30 countries, including Palestinian elections in 2005, 2006, and 2022, and worked with organizations such as the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the National Democratic Institute, and the Carter Center. He previously served as CEO of the New Israel Fund (2004–2009) and holds degrees from Queens College and Columbia University.
Dr. Natan Sachs is a Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute. His research and commentary on U.S. foreign policy, Israeli foreign policy and domestic politics, and Middle East affairs have been widely published and frequently quoted in major news outlets. From 2012 to 2025, he served as a Fellow, Senior Fellow, and for eight years, Director of the Brookings Institution's Center for Middle East Policy. Sachs has taught as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and held fellowships at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute, Tel Aviv University's Dayan Center, and as a Fulbright Fellow in Indonesia. He holds a B.A. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a Ph.D. in political science from Stanford University.