By Abigail Pennson, our reasonable, plain-speaking middle-class columnist who is putting in a counter-offer for the Chagos Islands
I WAKE, the sun glowing through the blinds. I rise, fling them aside, and gaze out from my timeshare onto the exclusive resort and spa once known as Gaza.
Watching the joggers on the broad boulevards, the sunbathers on the white sand beach edging into sapphire seas, the late-night gamblers staggering from the casino into unexpected light, I murmur ‘Another day in paradise.’
It all happened so quickly! Once a 999-year lease was agreed with Israel, Trump’s bulldozers moved in the very next day. Wearing hi-viz and hard hat, this experienced property developer stood behind the megaphone himself.
The detritus of a failed state was cleared. The hotels sprang up, every one seven-star. The marina filled with billionaires’ yachts. The sound of happy, playing influencers, so absent these last 60 years, could be heard once more.
The former residents? Happy, we’re told, in a place far from this site of their shame. They hate to be reminded of it so their location remains secret and we’re forbidden to contact them for their own good.
And meanwhile in Gaza, a new Mar-a-Lago has been built here on Earth. I thank Trump for his mercy and his beneficence, then head downstairs for my morning mojito.
A fantasy? Now, perhaps. But when has this most grounded of presidents ever made a promise he did not keep? So when he says the US will construct ‘one of the greatest and most spectacular developments of its kind’ there is no doubting him.
Soon the timeshare sales teams will arrive on British streets. Former IDF members, they will not accept no for an answer. I, of course, will sign up immediately because I am not anti-Semitic. I hope you can say the same.
My annual fortnight in Gaza, breathing the air of freedom, walking streets literally paved with gold, unsullied by outdated left-wing opinion, will be the highlight of my year.
Join me. Abandon the Algarve. Say ta-ra to Torremolinos. Instead, send Greetings from Gaza postcards to envious relatives. Because we all wish we were here.