Trump’s Gaza Board of Peace Takes Shape as Foreign Leaders Share Their Invitations

The leaders of Argentina, Canada, Turkey and Egypt all have been invited to join the “Board of Peace” that will oversee the governance of Gaza under President Trump’s 20-point peace plan, according to reports Saturday.The international board, which is to be chaired by Mr. Trump, appears to be separate from an almost all-American “founding Executive Board” whose membership was announced by the White House on Friday. Its members include Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Middle East envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, and its only non-American, the former British prime minister, Tony Blair.That group’s membership is rounded out by a billionaire businessman, Marc Rowan; the current World Bank president, Ajay Banga; and the White House deputy national security adviser, Robert Gabriel. Mr. Rowan and Mr. Banga will presumably be involved in raising the vast amounts of money needed for the reconstruction of Gaza.Also announced Friday was the makeup of a secondary “Gaza Executive Board” which includes several regional and United Nations diplomats as well as Messrs. Witkoff, Kushner, Blair, and Rowan. The statement said additional members of both boards will be named in the coming weeks.In an unusual rebuke to the Trump administration, Israeli officials said Saturday that the announcement “was not coordinated with Israel and is contrary to its policy,” the Associated Press reported. The statement also said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told the foreign ministry to contact Secretary of State Marco Rubio.The AP also cited unhappiness with the Gaza committee’s makeup on the part of Gaza’s second-largest militant group, Islamic Jihad, which was quoted objecting that the panel’s makeup reflected Israeli “specifications.”Javier Milei, the president of Argentina and a Trump ally, confirmed receipt of an invitation to join the Board of Peace on Saturday, posting an image of the invitation on X and saying it would be “an honor” for Argentina to participate.In the invitation, Mr. Trump wrote: “We will convene our wonderful and committed partners, most of whom are Highly Respected World Leaders, in the near future.” He added that the “Board of Peace … will be one of a kind, there has never been anything like it!Javier Milei via XA Canadian official told reporters traveling with Prime Minister Mark Carney on his current visit to China that Mr. Carney has been invited to join the board and said he will accept, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported. Mr. Carney has served as governor of the Bank of England and of the Bank of Canada.Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has also been invited to join the board, according to the country’s Anadolu news agency, which quoted a Turkish-language social media post from Turkey’s communications director, Burahanettin Duran. Mr. Duran did not say whether Mr. Erdogan has yet responded to the invitation.In Cairo, the Egyptian foreign minister, Badr Abdelatty, confirmed at a press conference that President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has been invited to join the board and “is currently studying the matter,” according to Egypt’s Daily News. Mr. Abdelatty was quoted as saying that without Mr. Trump’s direct involvement, it will be difficult for the parties to fulfil their obligations under the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement.Friday’s White House announcement said that Ali Sha’ath, “a widely respected technocratic leader,” will oversee the day-to-day governance of Gaza as head of a 15-member, all-Palestian National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, or NCAG.Mr. Sha’ath’s selection has been welcomed by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas as well as by several regional governments. He, like all the nominally unaligned members of the technocratic committee, has reportedly been vetted by Israel’s Shin Bet security service but has been criticized for past ties to the PA by some hardline Israeli Cabinet ministers.Security in the strip will be the responsibility of an International Stabilization Force under the command of an American Army officer, Major General Jasper Jeffers, who the White House says “will lead security operations, support comprehensive demilitarization, and enable the safe delivery of humanitarian aid and reconstruction materials.”It was not stated how many forces, or from what countries, he will have at his disposal to carry out those responsibilities. Indonesia, Morocco and Azerbaijan are among the few countries that have publicly indicated an interest in providing troops.On-the-ground coordination between the Executive Board and the NGAC will be in the hands of Nickolay Mladenov, a Bulgarian diplomat and member of the secondary Gaza Executive Board. Mr. Mladenov is understood to have maintained good working relations with both Palestinian and Israeli officials in his former capacity as U.N. Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process.Other members of the secondary board include:Turkey’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan;a Qatari diplomat, Ali Al-Thawadi;the director of Egypt’s General Intelligence Service, General Hassan Rashad;the UAE minister of state for international cooperation, Reem Al-Hashimy;an Israeli-Cypriot businessman seen as an unofficial representative for Israel, Yakir Gabay;the current U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Sigrid Kaag of the Netherlands.This article has been updated to clarify the difference between the Board of Peace and the Executive Board.

Trump’s Gaza Board of Peace Takes Shape as Foreign Leaders Share Their Invitations

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