ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has received an invitation from President Donald Trump to attend the inaugural summit of Gaza Board of Peace on February 19 in Washington and decided that there will be representation from Islamabad.
President Trump is expected to chair the session being held at the Donald J Trump US Institute for Peace in Washington.
“Pakistan will be in attendance. The invitation was sent to the prime minister and it is expected that he will attend. Consultations are continuing and, in a few days, the government will make an announcement. It is an important event,“ diplomatic sources told The News.
Officially, the Foreign Office has not made any announcement, nor has there been any public confirmation from the 27 countries which have decided to join Trump’s Board of Peace, except for Hungary which has confirmed participation.
Normally, Field Marshal Asim Munir has accompanied the prime minister on these important occasions, including at the signing of Board of Peace at Davos, but sources confide that there is no confirmation of his being part of the delegation so far.
According to media reports, Israeli officials say Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet Trump at the White House on February 18, a day before the planned first meeting.
It is unclear whether Netanyahu will also attend the Board of Peace meeting which he has joined, in which several Islamic states which have not recognised Israel are expected to attend.
Sources in Islamabad confess that the full agenda of the inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace has not been shared with them though reports speak of fundraising for the construction of Gaza. However, they point out that it is not expected that sending troops to Gaza would come under discussion in the Washington meeting.
The Islamic states which joined the Board of Peace besides Pakistan include Bahrain, Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and the United Arab Emirates.
Earlier, the foreign ministers of these Islamic states, while agreeing to join the Board of Peace, decided in a joint statement that “each country will sign the joining documents according to its respective relevant legal and other necessary procedures”.
“The foreign ministers reiterate their countries’ support for the peace efforts led by President Trump, and reaffirm their countries’ commitment to supporting the implementation of the mission of the Board of Peace as a transitional administration, as set out in the Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict and endorsed by United Nations Security Council Resolution 2803, aimed at consolidating a permanent ceasefire, supporting the reconstruction of Gaza, and advancing a just and lasting peace grounded in the Palestinian right to self-determination and statehood in accordance with international law, thereby paving the way for security and stability for all countries and peoples of the region,” the joint statement had added.
It is expected that there will be consultations before the inaugural Board of Peace meeting between these Islamic states if they all agree to attend. So far only Pakistan from the Islamic states has confirmed attendance.
Of importance for Pakistan is the ground reality that Israel has refused to sustain the ceasefire and continues with attacks causing casualties. Pakistan has continuously called for its immediate and full implementation. It hopes that the truce would lead to permanent ceasefire and help in scaling up humanitarian assistance.
“Indiscriminate use of force by Israeli occupation forces has caused unprecedented loss of lives and property and displacement of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilian Palestinians. Israel’s expansionist designs have destabilised the entire region,” Pakistan had stated when the ceasefire was first announced.
Pakistan reiterates its support for a just, comprehensive, and durable solution to the Palestinian issue, leading to the establishment of a sovereign State of Palestine based on pre-June 1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.
Meanwhile, a senior Hamas leader said Sunday that the Palestinian Islamist movement would not surrender its weapons nor accept foreign intervention in Gaza, pushing back against US and Israeli demands. “Criminalising the resistance, its weapons, and those who carried it out is something we should not accept,” Khaled Meshal said at a conference in Doha.
“As long as there is occupation, there is resistance. Resistance is a right of peoples under occupation ... something nations take pride in,” said Meshal, who previously headed the group.
A US-brokered ceasefire in Gaza is in its second phase, which foresees that demilitarisation of the territory -- including the disarmament of Hamas -- along with a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces. Hamas has repeatedly said that disarmament is a red line, although it has indicated it could consider handing over its weapons to a future Palestinian governing authority.
Israeli officials say that Hamas still has around 20,000 fighters and about 60,000 Kalashnikovs in Gaza.
A Palestinian technocratic committee has been set up with a goal of taking over the day-to-day governance in the battered Gaza Strip, but it remains unclear whether, or how, it will address the issue of demilitarisation. The committee operates under the so-called “Board of Peace,” an initiative launched by US President Donald Trump.
Originally conceived to oversee the Gaza truce and post-war reconstruction, the board’s mandate has since expanded, prompting concerns among critics that it could evolve into a rival to the United Nations.
Trump unveiled the board at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos last month, where leaders and officials from nearly two dozen countries joined him in signing its founding charter.
Alongside the Board of Peace, Trump also created a Gaza Executive Board -- an advisory panel to the Palestinian technocratic committee -- comprising international figures including US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, as well as former British prime minister Tony Blair.
On Sunday, Meshal urged the Board of Peace to adopt what he called a “balanced approach” that would allow for Gaza’s reconstruction and the flow of aid to its roughly 2.2 million residents, while warning that Hamas would “not accept foreign rule” over Palestinian territory.
“We adhere to our national principles and reject the logic of guardianship, external intervention, or the return of a mandate in any form,” Meshal said.
“Palestinians are to govern Palestinians. Gaza belongs to the people of Gaza and to Palestine. We will not accept foreign rule,” he added.
