The inaugural meeting of US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace (BoP) on Gaza in Washington has been presented as a breakthrough moment. Representatives from more than 40 countries attended, with observers from a dozen more. Trump announced that $7 billion had been pledged by nine members – Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, the UAE, Morocco, Bahrain, Qatar, Uzbekistan and Kuwait – towards a Gaza relief package. Yet that figure amounts to barely 10 per cent of the estimated $70 billion required to rebuild a territory devastated by what much of the world recognises as an ongoing genocide. Even more revealing than the numbers was the framing. Trump claimed Indonesia, Morocco, Albania, Kosovo and Kazakhstan had committed troops and police to ‘stabilise Gaza’, while Egypt and Jordan would provide ‘substantial help’ to train a ‘very trustworthy Palestinian police force’. European countries, however, declined to join, wary of the board’s vague scope, unclear funding mechanisms and uncertain long-term objectives. Their deeper concern: that the BoP is intended to supplant the UN. Trump himself alluded to this ambition, declaring that his board would be “looking over the United Nations and making sure it runs properly”, even as he insisted it would strengthen the UN.
Observers are divided on whether the BoP will fizzle out or attempt to replace the existing world order embodied by the UN. What most agree on is more sobering: neither the UN nor this new board, in its current form, appears capable of delivering justice to Palestinians. The presence of former British prime minister Tony Blair on the executive board hardly inspires confidence. And, despite Trump’s claims of a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, nearly 600 Palestinians have reportedly been killed in continued Israeli attacks, while food and aid remain severely restricted. More troubling still was the spectacle of a billionaire discussing Rafah as the first recipient of security, infrastructure and housing investments. The optics are unmistakable: a devastated enclave viewed less as a humanitarian catastrophe and more as a real estate opportunity. There was little discussion of the Palestinians scrambling for survival amid bombardment and blockade. The fear, widely shared among Palestinians, is that reconstruction will mask a deeper project – the entrenchment of Israel’s illegal occupation, displacement of the indigenous population and transformation of Gaza into lucrative coastal property once its people are removed.
The BoP’s legitimacy is further undermined by the absence of Palestinian representation. Many suspect the proposed International Stabilisation Force will be tasked with disarming Hamas in coordination with Israel. That several Muslim-majority countries have joined the BoP reflects geopolitical pressure rather than enthusiasm. Their first real test will be whether they can restrain Washington from escalating tensions elsewhere, particularly with Iran, and whether they can push for a durable ceasefire in Gaza. So far, the board appears directionless. The year 2023 will be remembered not only for Gaza’s destruction but as a mask-off moment for the self-proclaimed civilised West. For two-and-a-half years, key global institutions have maintained a deafening silence over Israel’s war crimes. Reports have surfaced that Human Rights Watch blocked a document by its former country director on Palestinians’ right of return. This right, left deliberately ambiguous in the Oslo Accords, remains central to the Palestinian cause and is categorically rejected by Israel. The erasure is not merely military but cultural and institutional. The British Museum’s removal of the word ‘Palestine’ from certain displays, justified as a correction of historical neutrality, signals how identity itself can be quietly sidelined. However, the perseverance of the Palestinians endures. Whether through the UN, the BoP or institutions yet to emerge, justice cannot be indefinitely deferred. Until the right of return and the right to live in dignity are honoured, no board will bring peace to Gaza.
