Washington, DC – United States President Donald Trump is ready to carry his first “Board of Peace” summit in Washington, DC, an occasion the place the US chief probably hopes to show the lately launched panel can overcome scepticism – even from those that signed on in assist – within the face of months of Israeli ceasefire violations in Gaza.
The summit on Thursday comes almost three months to the day because the UN Safety Council accepted a US-backed “ceasefire” plan amid Israel’s genocide in Gaza, which included a two-year mandate for the Board of Peace to supervise the devastated Palestinian enclave’s reconstruction and the launch of a so-called Worldwide Stabilization Drive.
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Disquiet has surrounded the board because the November safety council vote, with many conventional Western allies cautious of the US administration’s obvious wider ambitions, which some have considered as an try to rival the United Nations in a Trump-dominated format.
Others, together with nations which have already signed on as members, have raised considerations in regards to the board’s health to impact significant change in Gaza. A number of regional Center East powers have joined the board, with Israel changing into a late, and to some, disconcerting addition in early February.
As of Thursday’s assembly, the board nonetheless has no Palestinian illustration, which many observers see as a serious impediment to discovering an enduring path ahead.
“What precisely does Trump need to get out of this assembly?” Yousef Munayyer, the top of the Israel-Palestine programme on the Arab Heart Washington DC, questioned.
“I believe he needs to have the ability to say that persons are collaborating, that individuals imagine in his venture and in his imaginative and prescient and in his capability to maneuver issues ahead,” he informed Al Jazeera.
“However I don’t assume that you just’re going to see any main commitments till there are clearer resolutions to the important thing political questions that to this point stay excellent.”
‘Solely sport on the town’
To make sure, the Board of Peace at the moment stays the “solely sport on the town” for events fascinated by bettering the lives of Palestinians in Gaza, Munayyer defined, whereas concurrently remaining “extraordinarily and intimately tied to the persona of Donald Trump”.
That raises critical doubts over the board’s longevity in what’s prone to be a decades-long response to the disaster.
“Regional gamers which have a critical concern over the way forward for the area and concern over the genocide haven’t any selection however to essentially hope that their participation on this Board of Peace permits them to have some leverage and a few course over the way forward for Gaza within the subsequent a number of years,” Munayyer stated.
He assessed the best alternative for member states who “perceive the challenges and perceive the context” could be to deal with “what realistically might be achieved within the time interval … to deal with the fast wants and handle them aggressively”. That features well being infrastructure, freedom of motion, ensuring that individuals have shelter, pushing for an finish to ceasefire violations, to call just a few, he stated.
Not less than 72,063 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023, with 603 killed because the October 11, 2025, “ceasefire” went into impact. Almost the whole inhabitants of two.1 million has been displaced, with greater than 80 p.c of buildings destroyed.
For his half, Trump, who has beforehand envisioned turning Gaza right into a “Center East Riviera”, struck a constructive tone forward of the assembly. In a put up on his Fact Social account on Sunday, Trump touted the “limitless potential” of the board, which he stated would show to be the “most consequential Worldwide Physique in Historical past”.
Trump additionally stated that $5bn in funding pledges could be introduced “towards the Gaza Humanitarian and Reconstruction efforts” and that member states “have dedicated 1000’s of personnel to the Worldwide Stabilization Drive and Native Police to take care of Safety and Peace for Gazans”.
He didn’t present additional particulars.
In the meantime, Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who’s a member of the panel’s so-called “Gaza govt board”, unveiled the clearest imaginative and prescient but of Washington’s “grasp plan” for Gaza in January.
The plan, assembled with none enter from Palestinians in Gaza, outlined gleaming residential towers, knowledge centres, seaside resorts, parks, and sports activities services, predicated on the erasure of the enclave’s city cloth.
On the time, Kushner didn’t say how the reconstruction plan could be funded. He stated it could start following full disarmament by Hamas and the withdrawal of the Israeli navy, each points that stay unresolved.
Strain on Israel?
Because the US administration stargazes over sweeping development plans, it’s prone to face a starker actuality when it meets with a set of the 25 nations which have signed on as members, in addition to a number of others which can be sending observers to the assembly, in response to Annelle Sheline, a analysis fellow within the Center East programme on the Quincy Institute for Accountable Statecraft.
Any progress to point out the board’s “proof of idea” would all-but-surely require asserting unilateral strain on Israel, she famous.
“Trump is hoping to have nations again up his declare in regards to the $5bn, to get precise commitments on paper,” Sheline informed Al Jazeera.
“That is most likely going to be difficult, as a result of – particularly the Gulf nations – have been very clear that they’re not fascinated by financing one other reconstruction that’s simply going to be destroyed once more in just a few years.”
Israel’s choice to hitch the board, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had initially opposed, has piqued concerns about additional affect over US coverage. An act of fine religion by the US to advance a extra lasting peace might be the inclusion of a Palestinian official on the board, Sheline added.
She proposed broadly in style Palestinian political prisoner Marwan Barghouti, who is continuous to serve consecutive life sentences in Israel, as a attainable candidate. His launch, she stated, might be an instance of an space the place Washington may use its leverage to fast impact.
Within the shorter time period, “[interested member states] are largely ready for the safety scenario to resolve. Israel violates the ceasefire day by day and strikes the yellow line”, Sheline stated, referring to the demarcation in Gaza behind which Israel’s navy was required to withdraw as a part of the primary part of the “ceasefire” settlement.
Indonesia’s authorities has stated it’s getting ready to commit 1,000 troops to a stabilisation power, which may ultimately develop to eight,000. However any deployment would probably stay delayed with out higher ceasefire ensures, she stated.
“It’s nonetheless an lively warzone,” Sheline added. “So it’s very comprehensible that even Indonesia, which has hypothetically stated it could contribute troops to the stabilisation power, is probably going going to say we’re not really going to try this till the scenario is secure.”
A chance?
Making certain an precise ceasefire is enforced – together with creating accountability mechanisms for violations – remained “by far essentially the most vital” activity for the board’s inaugural assembly, in response to Laurie Nathan, the director of the mediation programme on the Kroc Institute for Worldwide Peace Research on the College of Notre Dame.
Trump’s Board of Peace is “not going to have the ability to play a significant reconstruction position within the absence of stability in Gaza, and stability requires adherence to the ceasefire”, he informed Al Jazeera.
The subsequent key step – and a serious improvement that might come from Thursday’s assembly – could be a dedication of troops, though Nathan famous any deployment would nonetheless probably be deadlocked till a voluntary Hamas disarmament settlement is reached.
On the face of the scenario, Trump would seem more and more incentivised to make use of Washington’s appreciable leverage over Israel to foster a stability in Gaza that the president has carefully aligned along with his personal self-image.
In spite of everything, Trump and his allies have usually portrayed the US president because the “peacemaker-in-chief”, repeatedly touting his success in battle decision, even when details on the bottom undermine the claims. Trump has been vocal in his perception that he must be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Nonetheless, “Trump’s motivation is multifold,” Nathan defined.
“Does he care about peace? I believe he does. Does he need to be a peace dealer? Sure. Does he genuinely need the Nobel Peace Prize? Sure.”
“Alternatively, he’s performative … it’s by no means fairly clear how a lot of it’s critical for him,” he added. “The additional drawback is that non-public pursuits are all the time concerned when Trump is doing these items.”
Wider ambitions?
Each Washington’s Western allies and specialists in battle decision have scrutinised what seems to be the yawning scope of the Board of Peace, far past the Gaza purview accepted by the UN Safety Council final yr.
A broadly reported founding “constitution” despatched to invited nations didn’t immediately reference Gaza because it took digs at pre-existing approaches to peace-building that “foster perpetual dependency and institutionalise disaster slightly than main individuals past it”. As an alternative, it envisioned a “extra nimble and efficient worldwide peace-building physique”.
Critics have additional questioned Trump’s singular and indefinite position as “chairman” and sole veto-holder, which largely undermines the rules of multilateralism supposed to be enshrined in organisations such because the UN. They’ve argued that the construction fosters a transactional approach each in dealings with the US authorities and Trump as a person.
Richard Gowan, the programme director of worldwide points and establishments at Worldwide Disaster Group, stated these considerations are unlikely to subside any time quickly. Nonetheless, he didn’t see that precluding European nations from supporting the board’s effort if it is ready to make significant progress.
“I believe, in sensible phrases, you will note different nations attempting to assist what the board is doing within the Gaza case, whereas persevering with to maintain it at arm’s size over different points,” he stated.
Thursday’s assembly may point out the Board of Peace’s dynamic and tone going ahead.
“If Trump makes use of his authority underneath the constitution to order everybody round, block any proposals he doesn’t like, and run this in a very personalistic style,” Gowan stated, “I believe even nations that need to make good with Trump will surprise what they’re moving into.”
“If Trump exhibits his mellower aspect. If he’s really prepared to pay attention, particularly to the Arab group and what they’re saying about what Gaza wants, if it seems like a real dialog in a real contact group,” he added, “that gained’t erase all of the questions in regards to the board’s future, however it is going to at the least recommend that it may be a critical kind of diplomatic framework.”
