Unlock the free White House Watch newsletter
Your guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the world
The peace board set up by Donald Trump to oversee Gaza will have a broad mandate that could allow it to rival the United Nations and mediate in other global conflicts, according to a charter sent to potential members.
The body was originally conceived as part of the US President’s effort to create a new governance framework for the breakaway Palestinian territory in the wake of Israel’s devastating two-year offensive against Hamas.
But the text of its charter, which does not mention Gaza but emphasizes the need for “a more agile and effective international peace-building body”, suggests its scope will be far broader, and the body – which will be chaired by Trump himself – could be used as a rival to the UN.
According to a copy seen by the Financial Times, the charter states, “The Peace Board is an international organization that seeks to promote stability, restore credible and legitimate governance, and ensure lasting peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict.”
“Sustainable peace requires practical decisions, common sense solutions, and the courage to break away from approaches and institutions that have too often failed.”
The charter’s distribution comes as US officials have floated the idea of allowing the board to mediate in other hotspots such as Ukraine and Venezuela, and appears to bolster diplomats’ fears that the Trump administration is looking for ways to circumvent the UN.
According to a White House official, the top level of the board will “exclusively” include heads of state under Trump’s leadership.
The charter, details of which were first reported by Haaretz, gives Trump broad powers as chair of the peace board, allowing him to appoint as well as remove member states — a decision that can only be overturned by two-thirds of the members.
This appears to give him a veto over board decisions, which he says will be “made by a majority of the Member States present and voting, subject to the approval of the President, who may also vote in his capacity as President in the event of a tie”.
It also grants him “the exclusive right to create, modify, or dissolve such subsidiary bodies as may be necessary or appropriate to carry out the mission of the Peace Board”, such as the Executive Committee that will deal with Gaza, or other similar boards created for other conflicts.
“It’s too confusing as an idea,” said a senior European official. What does “subscription” mean? Is this an alliance or is there some body to mediate between the rivals?”
A US official said Friday that the board’s planning was focused on the Israel-Gaza conflict and did not yet go beyond that.
But later, the official said the peace board was structured with a top-level board made up of heads of state, and below that a founding executive board, which itself sits above the Gaza Executive Board, because “it is possible that in the future the peace board may end up… encompassing more than Gaza”.
The official said other peace agreements Trump has signed could be incorporated into the peace board’s mandate through the creation of further executive boards.
The Board was formally authorized by a UN Security Council resolution in November to monitor Gaza’s post-conflict transition. But it is unclear under what legal mandate the board will operate beyond the Middle East.
Trump has long been hostile toward the United Nations, and is seeking to pull the US out of the organization entirely. Earlier this month, he withdrew the United States from 31 UN entities that he said operated “contrary to US national interests, security, economic prosperity, or sovereignty.”
