Trump’s Board of Peace to hold first meeting about Gaza reconstruction in Washington later this month

U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace,” a new body comprised of several world leaders tasked with supervising the Gaza Peace Plan, is set to convene for the first time in Washington, D.C., later this month, American media outlets reported Monday.

Raising funds for the reconstruction of the devastated Gaza Strip is among the main objectives of the planned summit, two U.S. officials and a Board of Peace official told the New York Times.

Leaders of the member states were reportedly invited to convene on Feb.19. “It will be the first Board of Peace meeting and a fundraising conference for Gaza reconstruction,” a U.S. official told the news outlet Axios.

The Board of Peace (BoP) is the upper echelon of the three-tiered administration system devised by the Trump administration, which is intended to shepherd the Gaza Strip through the lengthy reconstruction process.

It is meant to supervise the activities of the Executive Committee, as well as the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), which meant to handle administration on the ground.

The NCAG has been established but hasn’t entered the enclave yet, and is currently working from Egypt.

The BoP currently has 27 members and is chaired by Trump himself. It has been authorized via a UN Security Council resolution to oversee the implementation of Trump’s 20-point Gaza Peace Plan.

However, Hamas has blocked the plan by refusing to lay down its weapons and opposing the entry of the International Stabilization Force, which was intended to collect the weapons and provide security during the rebuilding phase.

According to Axios, the White House has started to contact the BoP’s members to check their availability for attending the meeting that is planned to be held at the newly renamed Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace

“Nothing has been confirmed yet, but the administration is planning it and has started checking which leaders are able to attend,” a source told the outlet.

Israel’s participation in the BoP remains unclear. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had accepted Trump’s invitation, but there was no Israeli presence at the inaugural meeting in Davos last month.

Netanyahu had been scheduled to meet Trump at the White House on Feb. 18, a day before the planned gathering; however, he announced Sunday that the visit was moved up to “discuss with him the negotiations with Iran.”

“The Prime Minister believes any negotiations must include limitations on ballistic missiles and a halting of the support for the Iranian axis,” his office stated.

Many major Western nations refused invitations to participate in the BoP, with some citing concerns that the new forum could be meant to eventually replace the United Nations, whose ineffectiveness Trump has often criticized.

The only leader who has confirmed his attendance at the planned summit so far is Viktor Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary and a stalwart ally of Trump.

Speaking at a campaign event on Sunday, he said, “Two weeks from now we will meet again in Washington because the Board of Peace, the peace body, will hold its inaugural meeting.”