United States President Donald Trump has called for a meeting of the Board of Peace for the first time since its inception. While a number of its members may not attend the meeting today, some have confirmed their presence.
What is expected at Trump’s Board of Peace meeting?
At the first meeting today, Donald Trump is expected to address the group at Donald J. Trump US Institute of Peace. Donald J. Trump US Institute of Peace is a building in Washington which the US president has named after himself.
During his address, Donald Trump is expected to announce $5 billion – a portion of the estimated $70 billion – for the war-battered Gaza reconstruction fund.
The money is expected to be a down payment on a fund that will likely need many more billions.
Of the proposed $5 billion package, about $1.2 billion each is expected to come from two of Washington’s Gulf Arab allies — the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait – a US official told Reuters.
Notably, while the Board of Peace includes Israel, no representative from the Palestinian territory has been included in the group. The Board of Peace is also expected to challenge the authority of the United Nations which Donald Trump has been critical of many a times.
According to the reports, senior US officials said Trump will also announce that several nations are planning to send thousands of troops to participate in an International Stabilization Force that will help keep the peace in Gaza.
Disarming Hamas, a demand Israel has often made, is one of the major obstacles before the deployment of the troops.
Who is likely to attend the meeting?
Delegations from 47 countries plus the European Union are expected to attend the meeting of the Board of Peace, US officials said.
The list includes Israel and a wide array of countries from Albania to Vietnam. The attendees include Secretary of State Marco Rubio, US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, US ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz, and High Representative for Gaza Nickolay Mladenov.
“We have the greatest leaders in the world joining the Board of Peace,” Donald Trump told reporters earlier this week. “I think it has the chance to be the most consequential board ever assembled of any kind.”
France, Britain, Russia and China, who had refused to join the board, will not attend the meeting. Germany, Italy, Norway and Switzerland have not joined the board but are expected to attend the meeting as observers, AP reported.
(With Reuters, AP inputs)
