US President, Donald Trump has inaugurated his “Board of Peace ” to lead efforts at maintaining a ceasefire in Israel’s war with Hamas.
In a speech at the World Economic Forum, Trump sought to create momentum for a project to map out a future of the war-torn Gaza Strip.
“This isn’t the United States, this is for the world. I think we can spread it out to other things as we succeed in Gaza.”
Donald Trump
Trump insisted that “everyone wants to be a part” of the body, despite many US allies opting not to participate.
The event featured Ali Shaath, the Head of a new, future technocratic government in Gaza, announcing that Rafah border crossing will open in both directions next week.
That’s after Israel said in early December it would open the crossing, which runs between Gaza and Egypt, but has yet to do so.
Shaath, an engineer and former Palestinian Authority official from Gaza, is overseeing the Palestinian committee set to govern the territory under US supervision.
The new peace board was initially envisioned as a small group of world leaders overseeing the ceasefire, but has morphed into something far more ambitious — and skepticism about its membership and mandate has led some countries usually closest to Washington take a pass.
Trump tried not to let those not participating ruin his unveiling party, saying that 59 countries had signed onto the board even though only heads-of-state, top diplomats and other officials from only 19 countries plus the US actually attended.
He told the group, ranging from Azerbaijan to Paraguay to Hungary, “You’re the most powerful people in the world.”
Trump also said of those assembled “every one of them is a friend of mine” and noted that in “most cases” they were “very popular leaders. Some cases — not so popular. That’s the way it goes.”
He has spoken about the board replacing some UN functions and perhaps even making that entire body obsolete one day. However, Trump was more conciliatory in his remarks on the sidelines of the forum in the Swiss alps.
Trump said, “We’ll do it in conjunction with the United Nations,” even as he denigrated the UN for doing what he said wasn’t enough to calm some conflicts around the globe.
The idea for the Board of Peace was first laid out in Trump’s 20-point Gaza ceasefire plan and even was endorsed by the UN Security Council.
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he’s agreed to join, after his office has earlier criticized the makeup of the board’s committee tasked with overseeing Gaza.
Months into the ceasefire, Gaza’s more than 2 million Palestinians continue to suffer the humanitarian crisis unleashed by over two years of war. Also, violence in Gaza, while not at the same level as before the October ceasefire and hostage deal was agreed on, continues.
Key to the truce continuing to hold is the disarming of Hamas, something the militant group that has controlled the Palestinian territory since 2007 has refused to do and that Israel sees as non-negotiable.
Trump repeated his frequently mentioned warnings that the group will have to do so or face dire consequences.
He also said the war in Gaza “is really coming to an end” while conceding, “We have little fires that we’ll put out. But they’re little” and that they had been “giant, giant, massive fires.”
Rubio Points To Other Countries Intention To Join
Secretary of State, Marco Rubio said that some countries’ leaders have indicated that they plan to join but still require approval from their parliaments.
The Trump administration says that Iit has also gotten queries about membership from countries that hadn’t been invited to participate yet.
Norway and Sweden have indicated that they won’t participate, after France also said no.
Canada, Russia, Ukraine, China and the executive arm of the European Union haven’t yet committed.
Big questions remain, however, about what the eventual board will look like.
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