On Sunday, President Donald Trump announced that members of his recently established Board of Peace have committed $5 billion to rebuilding Gaza, which has been devastated by war, and that thousands of people will be assigned to international stabilization and police forces for the region.
When board members convene in Washington on Thursday for their inaugural meeting, he said, the pledges will be formally revealed.
In a social media post announcing the commitments, Trump stated, “It is my honor to serve as Chairman of the Board of Peace, which will prove to be the most consequential International Body in History.”
He did not specify which member countries would provide people for the stabilization force or make the reconstruction pledges. However, Indonesia’s military stated on Sunday that it anticipates having up to 8,000 troops prepared by the end of June for a possible deployment to Gaza as part of a peace and humanitarian effort. The Republican president has never gotten such a resolute pledge.
It will be a difficult task to rebuild the Palestinian territory. Reconstruction of the area is expected to cost $70 billion, according to estimates from the European Union, World Bank, and United Nations. Over two years of Israeli shelling left few areas of the Gaza Strip unaffected.
An armed international stabilization force is required by the ceasefire agreement to maintain security and guarantee the disarmament of Hamas, which is one of Israel’s main demands. Few nations have so far indicated an interest in joining the envisaged force.\
A ceasefire agreement mediated by the United States on October 10 sought to end the more than two-year conflict between Israel and Hamas. Israeli forces have conducted many airstrikes and regularly fired on Palestinians in the vicinity of military-held areas, even if the most intense combat has decreased.
How many of the Board of Peace’s more than 20 members will show up for the inaugural meeting is unclear. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister who met with Trump at the White House last week, is not anticipated to attend.
At initially, Trump’s new board was perceived as a tool for bringing a stop to the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza. But as Trump seeks to restore the post-World War II international order, it has taken shape with his desire for a far broader mission of addressing global problems. It also seems to be the most recent US attempt to circumvent the UN.
In what they believe to be an attempt to compete with the Security Council, many of America’s most important allies in Europe and beyond have refused to join.
Additionally, Trump affirmed that the meeting will be held in the US Institute of Peace, which the State Department declared would continue to be the Donald J. Trump US Institute of Peace in December.
Following the Republican administration’s seizure of the property last year and the termination of nearly all of the institute’s staff, former employees and administrators of the nonprofit think tank are suing the building.
