WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Friday (Jan 16) tapped Secretary of State Marco Rubio and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair as founding members of the Gaza “board of peace”.
Trump also named his special envoy Steve Witkoff, son-in-law Jared Kushner and World Bank President Ajay Banga among those on the seven-member “founding executive board”, the White House said in a statement.
Trump himself will chair the board, it said, adding that further members would be announced in the coming weeks.
Blair is a controversial choice in the Middle East because of his role in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and Trump himself said last year that he wanted to make sure he was an “acceptable choice to everybody”.
Trump had announced the formation of the “board of peace” on Thursday, a key phase two element of a US-backed plan to end the war in Gaza.
The US president said it was the “Greatest and Most Prestigious Board ever assembled at any time, any place”.