WASHINGTON: United States President Donald Trump on Thursday (Feb 19) gathers allies to inaugurate the Board of Peace, his new institution focused on progress on Gaza but whose ambitions reach much further.
Around two dozen world leaders or other senior officials have come to Washington for the meeting – including several of Trump’s authoritarian-leaning friends and virtually none of the European democrats that traditionally sign on to US initiatives.
The Board of Peace came together after the Trump administration, teaming up with Qatar and Egypt, negotiated a ceasefire in October to halt two years of devastating war in Gaza.
The US says that the plan has now entered its second phase with a focus on disarming Hamas – the Palestinian militant group whose unprecedented Oct 7, 2023, attack on Israel triggered the massive offensive.
Gaza’s health ministry, which operates under Hamas authorities, says at least 601 people have been killed by Israeli forces since the truce began.
At the Board of Peace meeting, Trump is expected to detail pledges of more than US$5 billion for Gaza, where the vast majority of buildings lie in rubble and the property-mogul-turned-president has improbably suggested developing resorts.
The meeting will also look at how to launch the International Stabilization Force that will ensure security in Gaza.
A key player will be Indonesia, the largest Muslim-majority country, which has said it is ready to send up to 8,000 troops to Gaza if the force is confirmed.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto will take part in the inaugural meeting in Gaza, after joining the launch event at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last month.
PROGRESS ON GAZA
US officials – including Steve Witkoff, Trump’s friend and roving negotiator – have insisted that solid progress is being made and that Hamas is feeling pressure to give up weapons.
Israel has suggested sweeping restrictions, including seizing small personal rifles from Hamas.
“The heavy weapon, the one that does the most damage, is called an AK-47,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said recently.
“That’s the main weapon, and that has to go,” said Netanyahu, whose government will be represented by the foreign minister.
Jeremy Issacharoff, a strategic affairs expert at Israel’s Reichman University, acknowledged that disarming Hamas would not be a “simple task” but said that for Israel, a credible pathway would be key to determining “whether this exercise can get off the ground”.
In one step towards a new Gaza, a technocratic committee was formed last month to handle day-to-day governance of Gaza headed by engineer and former official Ali Shaath.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem told AFP that the “Board of Peace” should compel Israel to “stop its violations in Gaza” and to lift its long siege of the territory.
‘AMBITION AND NARCISSISM’
The meeting will take place in the building of the US Institute of Peace, a longstanding institution that studied conflict resolution whose staff was fired by Trump, whose name was then chiselled on the entrance.
Under terms laid out by the White House, Trump will wield veto power over the Board of Peace and can remain its head even after leaving office, and countries that want to stay on permanently rather than enjoy a two-year stint will need to pay $1 billion.
US officials say Thursday’s meeting is about Gaza but have also spoken of the “Board of Peace” in broader, amorphous terms, saying it can address other global hotspots.
“It’s a confused mix of ambition and narcissism, unleavened by any effort at intellectual coherence,” said Bruce Jones, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
The effort comes as Trump thumbs his nose at the United Nations, scaling back funding and withdrawing the United States from key bodies.
FRIENDS AND SUITORS
The inaugural meeting will bring ideological allies of Trump including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is facing a tough reelection battle and Argentina’s President Javier Milei.
Other leaders in attendance include some eager for US attention, such as Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who has courted Trump for support in his country’s conflict with India.
But major historic allies of the US are not participating, including France and Canada.
Japan, usually among the most stalwart US allies, has not decided whether to join the board and will send an envoy handling Gaza.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva declined an invitation, saying the board should be limited to Gaza and “include a seat for Palestine”.
Lula last month dubbed Trump’s board “a new UN where only he is the owner”.
Italy and the European Union have said their representatives plan to attend as observers as they have not joined the board.
The Vatican will not participate in Board of Peace initiative, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s top diplomatic official, said on Tuesday, adding that efforts to handle crisis situations should be managed by the United Nations.
The Holy See “will not participate in the Board of Peace because of its particular nature, which is evidently not that of other States,” Parolin said.
“One concern is that, at the international level, it should above all be the UN that manages these crisis situations. This is one of the points on which we have insisted.”
Pope Leo, the first US pope and a critic of some of Trump’s policies, was invited to join the board in January.