Glint of Daylight Between Trump and Netanyahu as White House Writes Off Israeli Objections Over New Executive Board for Gaza

Israeli officials are questioning how peaceful a Gaza Peace Board will be after President Trump invited nations hostile to Israel — including Turkey and Qatar, which support Hamas — to serve on an executive team responsible for rehabilitating Gaza.Mr. Trump announced the formation of the Board of Peace on Friday and over the weekend sent out invitations to dozens of nations to pay $1 billion each to be permanent founding members of the club. Invited to the peace board are leaders of the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Pakistan, Jordan, Pakistan, India, and Canada, as well as Mr. Trump’s allies Javier Milei of Argentina and Victor Orbán of Hungary.In all, the president reportedly invited 60 nations to join what is being described as a “mini-U.N.” Included on the founding executive team of the peace board are the president’s longtime advisers, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner. They will be joined by the former British prime minister, Tony Blair, and World Bank President Ajay Banga, the CEO of the private equity firm Apollo Global Management, Marc Rowan, and billionaire investor Robert Gabriel in what could become a new investment tool for global peace.Board terms are supposed to last three years, however, the charter says a $1 billion cash buy-in during the first year will get members permanent seats in the organization that is designed as a three-year experiment, but if successful could be extended into a long-term operation.Several Palestinian supporters have questioned the absence of Muslims on the founding executive board. The peace board was not specifically built with Gaza as its sole focus, suggesting the president has a larger goal for the international body despite its short-term horizon for operations. To address Gaza specifically — as envisioned by the president’s 20-point peace plan and approved by a U.N. Security Council resolution last November — the president set up a second executive team responsible solely for overseeing its post-war rebuilding. Aside from Messrs. Witkoff, Kushner, Rowan, and Blair also serving on that team, the executive board for Gaza will include the foreign minister of Turkey and Qatar as well as Egypt’s intelligence chief, General Hassan Rashad, who will be responsible for border and humanitarian aid access, and UAE Minister Reem Al-Hashimy, who will oversee reconstruction and donor coordination. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was meeting with his Cabinet on Sunday, has registered his objection to having nations supporting Hamas on the Gaza board. The Israeli prime minister’s office announced Saturday that the composition of the team was made without Israel’s input, a point of contention considering its impact on Israeli security. “The announcement regarding the composition of the Gaza Executive Board, which is subordinate to the Board of Peace, was not coordinated with Israel and runs contrary to its policy. The Prime Minister has instructed the Foreign Affairs Minister to contact the US Secretary of State on this matter,” the prime minister’s office said on X.Axios reports that the Trump administration is nonplussed about Mr. Netanyahu’s objections. “This is our show, not his show. We managed to do things in Gaza in recent months nobody thought was possible, and we are going to continue moving,” a senior U.S. official told the outlet. The official added, “We are not going to argue with him. … “We are doing him a favor. If this fails, he can say, ‘I told you so.’ We know that if it succeeds he will claim credit.”Just as the Israeli prime minister has lodged his objections to the board, Palestinian Islamic Jihad said it was equally disappointed. “We were surprised by the composition of the so-called ‘Peace Council’ and its announced names, which came according to Israeli specifications and in a way that serves the interests of the occupation, in a clear indication of negative intentions harbored regarding the implementation of the terms of the agreement,” the Palestinian Islamic Jihad said in a statement. It later said it would work with Mr. Shaath’s group.With challenging goals to achieve peace, the president has assigned tasks to an elite list of partners. A billionaire Israel-Cypriot investor, Yakir Gabay, is taking a role in attracting investment, and the Netherland’s Sigrid Kaag, a former humanitarian coordinator for the United Nations, will work on developing civil institutions and governance. Army General Jasper Jeffers has been tapped to lead the International Stabilization Force in Gaza, which is responsible for demilitarizing the strip.Representing Gaza on the board will be a former U.N. envoy from Bulgaria, Nickolay Mladenov, who will serve as a go-between the board and the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza.A Palestinian doctor and former Palestinian Authority deputy planning minister, Ali Shaath, will lead the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza. The 15-member committee met with Mr. Mladenov on Saturday in Cairo and issued its mission statement.“We are committed to establishing security, restoring the essential services that form the bedrock of human dignity such as electricity, water, healthcare, and education, as well as cultivating a society rooted in peace, democracy, and justice,” Mr. Shaath said. “We embrace peace, through which we strive to secure the path to true Palestinian rights and self determination.”The Board is expected to hold its first meeting on Wednesday, in Davos, Switzerland, during the World Economic Forum. The charter says the founding executive board will meet every two weeks for the first three months.

Glint of Daylight Between Trump and Netanyahu as White House Writes Off Israeli Objections Over New Executive Board for Gaza

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