WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump’s so-called ‘Board of Peace’ for post-war Gaza began to take shape Saturday, with the leaders of Egypt, Turkiye, Argentina and Canada asked to join. However, no one from Palestine was invited to become part of the so-called ‘Peace of Board’, according to the information made available so far in this regard.
The announcements from those leaders came after the US president named his Secretary of State Marco Rubio, former British prime minister Tony Blair and senior negotiators Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff to the panel.
Trump had already declared himself the chair of the body, as he promotes a controversial vision of economic development in the Palestinian territory, which lies in rubble after two-plus years of relentless Israeli bombardment.
The moves came after a Palestinian committee of technocrats meant to govern Gaza held its first meeting in Cairo which was attended by Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law who has partnered with Witkoff for months on the issue.
In Canada, a senior aide to Prime Minister Mark Carney said he intended to accept Trump’s invitation, while in Turkiye, a spokesman for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he had been asked to become a “founding member” of the board.
Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said Cairo was “studying” a request for President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to join.
Sharing an image of the invitation letter, Argentine President Javier Milei wrote on X that it would be “an honour” to participate in the initiative.
In a statement sent to AFP, Blair said: “I thank President Trump for his leadership in establishing the Board of Peace and am honoured to be appointed to its Executive Board.”
Blair is a controversial figure in the Middle East because of his role in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Trump himself said last year that he wanted to make sure Blair was an “acceptable choice to everybody”.
Blair spent years focused on the Israeli-Palestinian issue as representative of the “Middle East Quartet”—the United Nations, European Union, United States and Russia—after leaving Downing Street in 2007.
The White House said the Board of Peace will take on issues such as “governance capacity-building, regional relations, reconstruction, investment attraction, large-scale funding and capital mobilisation.”
The other members of the board so far are World Bank President Ajay Banga, an Indian-born American businessman; billionaire US financier Marc Rowan; and Robert Gabriel, a loyal Trump aide who serves on the US National Security Council.
Trump has created a second “Gaza executive board” that appears designed to have a more advisory role. It was not immediately clear which world leaders were asked to be on each board.
The White House, which said Friday that additional members would be named to both entities, did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Washington has said the Gaza plan had gone on to a second phase—from implementing the ceasefire to disarming Hamas. On Friday, Trump named US Major General Jasper Jeffers to head the International Stabilisation Force, which will be tasked with providing security in Gaza and training a new police force to succeed Hamas.
Jeffers, from special operations in US Central Command, in late 2024 was put in charge of monitoring a ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, which has continued periodic strikes aimed at Hezbollah militants. Gaza native and former Palestinian Authority deputy minister Ali Shaath was earlier tapped to head the governing committee.
Trump, a real estate developer, has previously mused about turning devastated Gaza into a Riviera-style area of resorts, although he has backed away from calls to forcibly displace the population. The United States has been searching the world for countries to contribute to the force, with Indonesia an early volunteer. But diplomats expect challenges in seeing countries send troops so long as Hamas does not agree to disarm fully.
The committee’s meeting in Cairo also included Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov, who was given a role of high representative liaising between the new governing body and Trump´s Board of Peace.
Committee members are scheduled to meet again Saturday, one of them told AFP on condition of anonymity. “We hope to go to Gaza next week or the week after; our work is there, and we need to be there,” he said. The board will also include senior figures from mediators Egypt and Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, which normalised ties with Israel in 2020. Trump also named to the board Sigrid Kaag, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Gaza, despite his administration’s efforts to sideline the world body.
The US president said it was the ‘Greatest and Most Prestigious Board ever assembled at any time, any place.” The boards creation comes shortly after the announcement of a 15-member Palestinian technocratic committee, charged with managing the day-to-day governance of devastated post-war Gaza. Hamas, meanwhile, has refused to publicly commit to a full disarmament, a non-negotiable demand from Israel.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Saturday that this week’s Trump administration announcement on the composition of a Gaza executive board was not coordinated with Israel and ran counter to government policy.
It said Foreign Minister Gideon Saar would raise the issue with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The statement did not specify what part of the board’s composition contradicted Israeli policy. An Israeli government spokesperson declined to comment. The board, unveiled by the White House on Friday, includes Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. Israel has repeatedly opposed any Turkish role in Gaza.
