Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ on Gaza to convene in Washington amid criticism

In a move already stirring controversy, United States President Donald Trump’s much-vaunted “Board of Peace” — a body envisaged to oversee governance in the battered Gaza Strip under a US-led peace blueprint — is expected to gather in Washington, DC, later this month for its inaugural meeting, according to online news outlet Axios.

Citing a US official and diplomats from four participating countries, Axios reported on Friday that the meeting, tentatively slated for 19 February, remains subject to change. Beyond diplomacy, the gathering is also intended to double as a fundraising event aimed at financing Gaza’s reconstruction, even as Israel’s war — described by critics and rights groups as genocidal — continues to devastate the enclave.

The timing is politically charged. The meeting is scheduled for the day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to hold talks with President Trump at the White House, placing Gaza once again at the intersection of power, symbolism and spectacle in Washington.

Axios notes that should Netanyahu attend the Board of Peace session, it would mark his first encounter with Arab and Muslim leaders since Israel launched its war on Gaza on 7 October 2023 — a conflict that has reshaped regional politics and deepened global outrage.

Neither the White House nor the State Department offered any comment on the report.

The initiative has drawn sharp criticism. Detractors have likened Trump’s board to a modern-day colonial authority, accusing the US president of attempting to sideline the United Nations and replace it with a bespoke international structure aligned with Washington’s preferences.

Fueling the backlash is the roster of figures invited to take part. Trump has reportedly offered seats on the board to individuals such as Netanyahu himself, who is the subject of an International Criminal Court warrant over suspected war crimes in Gaza. Also included is former British prime minister Tony Blair, whose legacy remains indelibly linked to his championing of the catastrophic US-led invasion of Iraq.

Trump has suggested that the board’s remit could extend far beyond Gaza, positioning it as a forum to address conflicts across the globe — a vision that critics say threatens to erode established mechanisms of international diplomacy and cooperation, particularly the UN, long a target of US and Israeli hostility.

Throughout, the language emanating from Trump and his inner circle — including his son-in-law Jared Kushner — has cast Gaza less as a homeland under siege and more as a speculative frontier: a future hub of technology, real estate and global investment. Missing from this glossy vision, critics argue, are the political status and legal rights of Palestinians, as well as any serious reckoning with accountability for alleged war crimes committed against Gaza’s civilian population.