The Board of Peace with fiasco written all over it

What do you get when you construct a Board of Peace, composed of world nations, many of whom are anti-Israel? The short answer is – a fiasco!

Does anyone think that patterning a governing body, after the failed and biased U.N., will bring about a different outcome? Why would it succeed in forging peace and good will, when the heads of so many of these countries are already convinced that Israel has perpetrated a genocide in Gaza?

For such a Board to be helpful, it must first contain objective leaders whose lack of political agenda will serve them in their efforts to arrive at fair and just solutions for everyone.  Sadly, that does not characterize the individuals who have been invited to sit on such a board.

At the behest of U.S. President Donald Trump, multiple countries have been beckoned to join a Board of Peace with the purpose of “promoting stability, restoring dependable and lawful governance as well as securing enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict.”

As of this writing, countries which have already agreed to join are Argentina, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Bahrain, Egypt, Hungary, Indonesia, Jordan Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Morocco, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.  Counties which declined include France, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden and the U.K. Countries yet to respond are Cambodia, China, Croatia, Germany, India, Italy, Paraguay, Russia, Singapore, Thailand and Ukraine. 

After looking over the list of countries who would, ostensibly, determine Israel’s fate, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Israel would vociferously object to the inclusion of Turkey and Qatar, in particular.

Given Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s hostility towards the Jewish state, even to the point of calling for Israel’s destruction as he said, “May Allah make Zionist Israel destroyed and devastated,” what good could come from such a hateful man?

Participation from Qatar is no less offensive when considering that they provided refuge and sanctuary to Hamas terrorists whose sole aim is also the destruction of Israel. 

Why would anyone count on these two countries to offer reasonable and fair resolutions, given the fact that they are committed to the demise of one of the nations they are supposed to help? That is why this proposition has fiasco written all over it. Because the choice of players, who have been asked to be part of a process to foster unity, bring about repair and hope, to an otherwise unsolvable morass, is a collection of very flawed and self-interested actors.

So, the question is, “Why expend efforts to establish a body which is no different from world agencies that always seek to accuse Israel and them for being the problem?”

Here are some speculative possibilities. One is that Trump might feel that if all world nations were chosen to solve the Middle East conundrum, then it wouldn’t just fall upon the U.S. Consequently, by making it a collective global problem, it would require a global collective solution.

Another possibility is that if such a solution could be achieved but fail, in the end, to produce the desired results, the collapse would be on them. No one would be able to cast blame on one leader if, together, they were unable to produce a good outcome.  

A third reason could be that Trump sees this as an opportunity to establish himself as the world’s most powerful leader, who has summoned all others to work under his authority, since he has final veto power, in the hope of effecting lasting peace, cementing his indomitable role in the annals of history. In other words, he would become legendary, on par with the greatest world leaders who have ever lived.

But at what price would this come to Israel? One can only imagine the ill-advised and dangerous resolutions which would be expected of the only democracy in the Middle East. 

Would Israel be asked to wipe the slate clean, expected to dole out blind trust and implicit faith towards the same population which danced in the streets upon receiving the welcomed news of an Israeli massacre of innocents?  

And how would countries, who have traditionally looked upon Palestinians as victims of Israeli oppression respond? Would they demand that Israel provide for their every need, including the issuance of work permits so that they could, once again, be employed in the same country that they so bitterly betrayed? 

Would they require us to open our borders, assuring us that no attack will occur?

These are just some of the absurd demands which might be suggested by countries whose leaders believe that Israel is desperate enough to attain piece, to the point where it would allow itself to be hoodwinked into what is tantamount to a bad deal with, undoubtedly, tragic results.

The truth is that Israel is definitely sick and tired of war and conflict. We are a people who have longed for peace, tranquillity and mutual respect for as long as we’ve been an independent nation and even before that. The fact that it eludes us, is not due to our own stubbornness or inflexibility, though.  

The countless offers of peace, which have been made year after year, with costly concessions to Israel, were rejected each time. Not only were they not accepted, but they were followed by threats and renewed attempts to hasten our end. So why would anyone think that a Board of Peace, made up of countries, whose biased views have already stacked the deck against us, should be taken seriously?

Even before it’s gotten off the ground, there is great skepticism, on the part of many, who see the pitfalls surrounding a “global assembly,” which has an entrance fee price tag of $1 billion to join this exclusive club. But Trump’s enticement is that this will be the most prestigious group which has ever existed, so who wouldn’t want to be part of it? Another tempting motivation is that this Board of Peace will end up replacing the feckless U.N. which has done nothing of any relevance.

While Trump’s massive altruistic Board of Peace may sound great on paper, the likelihood of its success is pretty low - if for no other reason, because it will be made up of biased leaders’ whose positions have already been pre-decided against Israel.