On February 19, President Donald Trump convened the first meeting of the Board of Peace to discuss the reconstruction of Gaza after he had brokered a twenty-point peace accord that halted the two-year war between Hamas and Israel. According to a United Nations report, in the aftermath of the conflict, over 81% of all building structures have been damaged or destroyed, and 1.4 million Palestinians require emergency shelter.
Given Trump’s track record during the first year of his second term in office when he has made inflated assessments about the state of the economy and delusional statements about his peacekeeping successes, some observers are skeptical about his latest international endeavor.
Based on this first public meeting, the Board of Peace seems to be a Trumpian invention designed to concentrate absolute power in his hands in overseeing the reconstruction of Gaza while seeking to enrich his family, friends, and key international allies. Critics contend that it is also a move to weaken the United Nations and expand Trump’s personal power worldwide.
The inaugural event of the Board was held at the U.S. Institute for Peace, the congressionally funded entity that Trump seized control of soon after being sworn in as president. We mustn’t forget that in December 2025, he renamed it the Donald J. Trump U.S. Institute for Peace.
During Trump’s forty-five minute long rambling speech at the opening ceremony of the Board of Peace, he frequently strayed from the topic at hand and praised his own prowess. At one point he boasted: “I believe it’s the most consequential board, certainly in terms of power and in terms of prestige.” High praise for the attendees of an invitation-only gala that excluded countries in sub-Saharan Africa, given Trump’s disdain for that region of the world.
Trump went on to brag: “There’s never been anything close because these are the greatest world leaders,” referring to the twenty-seven official participants attending the event. It was a rather dubious claim. Those present included representatives from sixteen Arab or Muslim-majority nations, as well as his favorite extreme rightwing allies: Victor Orban of Hungry, Nahib Bukele of El Salvador, and Javier Millei of Argentina. Most official Board members hardly represent leading world figures or those committed to peace, democracy, and justice.
An additional twenty-two countries, including Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Norway, as well as the European Union, sent observers, although they currently show no predisposition to joining the Board. France declined to attend at all, as did the Vatican City. True to Trump’s tendency to take revenge on those who displease him, he withdrew an invitation that he had tendered to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney due to on-going spats he has conducted with the United States’s neighbor to the north.
The proposal to establish the Board of Peace was originally contained in United Nations Security Council Resolution 2803 that was approved on November 17, 2025. It was designed to implement the Gaza October 2025 Peace Plan between Israel and Hamas by establishing a National Committee for the Administration of Gaza and an International Stabilization Force to uphold the peace accord.
The People’s Republic of China and Russia abstained from voting on the United Nations resolution presumably because it afforded too much power to the United States. However, both Israel and the Palestinian Authority supported the proposal. Hamas criticized the resolution for “assigning the international force with tasks and roles inside the Gaza Strip, including disarming the resistance, stripping it of its neutrality, and turning it into a party to the conflict in favor of the occupation.”
Early this year Trump touted the Board of Peace as a possible replacement for the United Nations, commenting that “with all the wars I’ve settled, the United Nations never helped me on one war.” Two days later he held a signing ceremony of the Board’s founding charter at sidebar event held during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The Board of Peace: An Autocratic Organization
The authoritarian, almost monarchical structure of the Board of Peace is reminiscent of The Trump Organization, an umbrella conglomerate that manages the president’s properties. The Board’s charter designates Trump as the lifetime chairman and grants him the power to appoint his successor.
Much like the conditions for belonging to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida in which members must pay a million dollars initiation fee, countries wishing to remain on the Board of Peace as permanent members will have to pay a hefty billion dollars. Trump will have full control over those funds. Others member states will serve a three-year term and may be reappointed at Trump’s discretion.
The members of the Board of Peace’s Executive Board, who are all appointed by Trump, deal with diplomacy and investment. The majority are Trump loyalists: his son-in-law Jared Kushnir; U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio; businessman Steve Witkoff, his Special Enoy to the Middle East; Marc Rowan, the billionaire CEO of Apollo Global Management, who contributed a million dollars to Trump’s 2024 election campaign; Yakir Gabay, a Cypriot-Israeli billionaire real estate development, and Robert Gabriel, Jr., Trump’s U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor.
Other members offer a technical and seemingly neutral façade to the project. They include former British prime minister Tony Blair; World Bank Group president Ajay Banga; and Nikolay Mladenov, the Bulgaria politician and diplomat who was the former United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process. Mladenov also heads the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, that is under Trump’s control as well.
Astonishingly, Trump’s Board of Peace leadership body does not include any Palestinian representatives, although the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, established to oversee day-to-day operations of the civil service and administration of Gaza, will include independent Palestinian technicians.
During the Board’s inaugural ceremony, nine members pledged a total of $7 billion for Gaza reconstruction. Trump topped that amount by announcing that the United States would commit $10 billion, although U.S. spokesperson did not indicate where that money would come from or how it would be used. So far, the U.S. president has not consulted the U.S. Congress or obtained authorization to fund the project. Late last year the United Nations estimated that rebuilding Gaza would cost $70 billion. Much more will need to be raised if the reconstruction effort is successful.
Trump has appointed U.S. General Jasper Jeffers to command the International Stabilization Force. Albania, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Indonesia, and Morocco have pledged to deploy troops. Jordan and Egypt have announced that they will train police, which are expected be operating there in two months, although it is hard to imagine how effective they will be with such short preparation time. Jeffers estimates that in the long run the plan will required 20,000 ISF soldiers and 12,000 police.
Although the United Nations sanctioned the initial idea of the Board of Peace, Trump seems to be transforming it into his own image while also seeking to oversee the international organization. “The United Nations is going to be much stronger, and the Board of Peace is going almost be looking over the United Nations and making sure it runs properly.”
The United States currently owes almost $4 billion to the United Nation: $2,196 billion for its commitment to the operating budget and an additional $1.8 billion for peacekeeping operations. UN Secretary-General António Guterres warns that the international body confronts an “imminent financial collapse.” One can only imagine that Trump might try to offset the U.S. debt to the United Nations with his pledge to the Board of Peace.
A Trumpian Riviera in Gaza
Critics are also wary of the real estate mogul’s real intentions for the Gaza strip. In February 2025 during the ceasefire, Trump announced that the United States would “take over” the Gaza Strip, forcefully displace two million of its residents, and redevelop the area into the “Riviera of the Middle East.” At the time Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and far-right members of his cabinet enthusiastically endorsed the proposals, which was loudly criticized by several nations and organizations.
While the proposal seemed to be yet another example of Trumpian blustering, following his comments about annexing Greenland, a video shown at the first Board of Peace gathering raised alarms as it depicted a futurist city with modern ports. Executive Board members Yakir Gabay and Jared Kushnir described a “master plan” that promises tall skyscrapers, an economy based on high-tech industry, modern transportation and, “a new Mediterranean Riviera with 200 hotels and potential islands.” The video narrator stated that “Gaza will be self-governed, integrated into the region with thriving industries and housing for all.”
The Guardian has reported that the United States plans to build a 5,000-person, 350-acre military base for the International Stabilization Force, establishing a U.S. footprint on the occupied territory, setting the precedent for possible future claims to administer the territory. No mention is made of an independent Palestinian state or any indication that Gazans will play an active role in the reconstruction process.
Despite Trump’s triumphalist claims about the success of the meeting, there are many roadblocks ahead. Hamas has not yet disarmed, and the truce remains shaky. The absence of full Palestinian participation in the process severely weakens its legitimacy, as do the lack of international support from key world players and Trump’s total control over the Board.
The development plan seems more like another real estate opportunity that will favor areas of Gaza under Israeli control and exclude most Palestinians from any real benefits. At the same time, a “developing” Gaza under U.S. domination and control could offer the current Netanyahu coalition government an excuse to push for the annexation of the West Bank, sinking forever the possibility of an independent Palestinian state.
We also must not forget that the master architect of the Board of Peace project is a failed entrepreneur, whose filed for bankruptcy of his businesses six times between 1991 and 2009. Trump may also be the most corrupt president in U.S. history. According to the editorial board of the New York Times, based on other news reporting, “Mr. Trump has used the office of the presidency to make at least $1.4 billion” since his inauguration on January 20, 2025.
Finally, when Secretary of State Marco Rubio, like his current boss, was a contender for the Republican nomination for president in 2016, he issued a election campaign statement declaring: “We are not going to turn over the conservative movement to a con artist, who is telling people one thing but has spent 40 years sticking it to working Americans and now claims to be their champion.” Although Rubio has changed his tune to get a job in the current administration and will likely seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2028, Trump remains the same old Trump.
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