By JULIA FRANKEL, Associated Press
JERUSALEM (AP) — The Board of Peace led by U.S. President Donald Trump was originally envisioned as a small group of world leaders overseeing the Gaza ceasefire plan. The Trump administration’s ambitions have ballooned into a more sprawling concept, with Trump extending invitations to dozens of nations and hinting it will soon broker global conflicts, like a pseudo-U.N. Security Council.
More details are expected when Trump participates in an announcement about the Board of Peace on Thursday at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
The board’s charter has not yet been made public, but a draft version obtained by The Associated Press indicates much of the power will be concentrated in the hands of Trump himself. A $1 billion contribution secures permanent membership, the draft say.
Here’s what to know:
The scope of the Board of Peace appears to go beyond Gaza
The Trump administration now seems to envision the Board of Peace with a far broader scope beyond Gaza.
In letters sent Friday to various world leaders inviting them to the board, Trump said it would “embark on a bold new approach to resolving global conflict,” suggesting it could act as a rival to the U.N. Security Council, the most powerful body of the global organization created in the wake of World War II.
A draft charter for the board, obtained from a European diplomat and confirmed by a U.S. official as accurate as of Monday, uses expansive language to describe its ambitions.
It emphasizes “the need for a more nimble and effective international peace-building body” and says “durable peace” requires “the courage to depart from approaches and institutions that have too often failed.” It adds an aim to “secure peace in places where it has for too long proven elusive.”
Under the charter, the chairman — which Trump says will be him — has the power to invite member states, break any ties in a vote, decide how frequently it meets, and create or dissolve subsidiary entities.
The expenses of the Board of Peace will be funded by contributions from member states, which serve three-year terms. Members who pay “more than one billion United States dollars in cash” during their first year can have a permanent place on the board, the draft says.
The draft is under constant revision, is not finalized and may undergo significant changes, according to the U.S. official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Countries around the world have been invited
So far, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Hungary, Argentina and Belarus have agreed to take part.
Invitation letters from Trump also have been sent to Paraguay’s leader Santiago Peña, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Plus, Russia, Israel, India, Slovenia, Thailand and the European Union’s executive arm have said they received invitations.
The Kremlin is now “studying the details” and will seek clarity of “all the nuances” in contacts with the U.S., Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Trump confirmed Monday night that Russian President Vladimir Putin had been invited.
Israel has been asked to join, though it’s not known whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted the offer, said an Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a behind-the-scenes diplomatic matter.
Netanyahu’s office earlier said the makeup of the board — including Turkey, a key regional rival — wasn’t coordinated with the Israeli government and “is contrary to its policy,” without clarifying its objections. Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has criticized the board and called for Israel to take unilateral responsibility for Gaza’s future.
It was not immediately clear how many or which other leaders would receive invitations.
Some US allies have already declined
France — which is at odds with the Trump administration over its desire to take over Greenland, a self-governing territory overseen by NATO ally Denmark — does not plan to join the Board of Peace so far.
“Yes to implementing the peace plan presented by the president of the United States, which we wholeheartedly support, but no to creating an organization as it has been presented, which would replace the United Nations,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Tuesday.
Told late Monday that French President Emmanuel Macron was unlikely to join, Trump said, “Well, nobody wants him because he’s going to be out of office very soon.”
“I’ll put a 200% tariff on his wines and Champagnes and he’ll join,” Trump told reporters. “But he doesn’t have to join.”
The other committees that will work with the Board of Peace
The White House said an executive board will work to carry out the vision of the Board of Peace.
The executive board’s members include U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan, World Bank President Ajay Banga, and Trump’s deputy national security adviser Robert Gabriel.
The White House also announced the members of another board, the Gaza Executive Board, which, according to the ceasefire, will be in charge of implementing the tough second phase of the agreement. That includes deploying an international security force, disarming Hamas and rebuilding the war-devastated territory.
Nickolay Mladenov, a former Bulgarian politician and U.N. Mideast envoy, is to serve as the Gaza executive board’s representative overseeing day-to-day matters. Additional members include: Witkoff, Kushner, Blair, Rowan, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan; Qatari diplomat Ali Al-Thawadi; Hassan Rashad, director of Egypt’s General Intelligence Agency; Emirati minister Reem Al-Hashimy; Israeli businessman Yakir Gabay; and Sigrid Kaag, the Netherlands’ former deputy prime minister and a Mideast expert.
The board also will supervise a newly appointed committee of Palestinian technocrats who will be running Gaza’s day-to-day affairs.
Associated Press writers Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel, Matthew Lee in Washington and Catherine Gaschka in Paris contributed to this report.
