Editorial
Donald Trump convened the first meeting of his Board of Peace in Washington this week, gathering representatives from 47 nations in an event that felt, by most accounts, less like a diplomatic summit and more like a campaign rally, complete with Elvis Presley on the speakers and red Trump hats handed out to participants.
The headline numbers were impressive on their surface. Contributing nations have pledged seven billion dollars toward Gaza reconstruction. The United States will add ten billion more. FIFA announced seventy-five million for sports projects, and the United Nations committed two billion in humanitarian assistance. Indonesia’s president pledged up to eight thousand troops for an International Stabilization Force. The ambition, at least in announcement form, is considerable.
But announcements are not achievements, and the fundamental question hanging over the entire enterprise remains unanswered: what happens if Hamas does not disarm? Trump expressed hope that force would be unnecessary, noting that Hamas had “promised” to disarm. Netanyahu, characteristically blunter, said Hamas would be disarmed one way or another. Hamas itself gave no direct commitment, saying only that disarmament could be “discussed.” That is a long distance from the actual disarmament the entire reconstruction plan depends upon.
Other questions compound the uncertainty. Gaza requires up to seventy billion dollars to rebuild, against which the pledges announced represent a fraction. The Board excludes Palestinian representatives entirely while including Israel, raising serious legitimacy concerns. Key Western allies are absent. Norway clarified it is not actually joining the board despite Trump’s announcement to the contrary.
The Board of Peace may yet prove meaningful. But between a fragile ceasefire, an unresolved disarmament question, an underfunded reconstruction pledge, and a membership that excludes the people most directly affected, what was presented in Washington this week was less a peace plan and more a performance of one.
