Major European allies decline to join first meeting of Trump's Board of Peace

"The White House has indicated that tomorrow's summit for his new ad hoc council at the renamed Donald J Trump Institute of Peace will heavily function as a fundraising round, with Trump announcing on social media that countries have pledged more than $5bn toward rebuilding Gaza, which has been devastated in the war with Israel and remains in a humanitarian crisis."

"The board was initially formed with the reconstruction of Gaza as its stated primary goal, though its mandate has since been widened by Trump to include responding to other global conflicts. But, despite Trump's characteristic bombast, the Board of Peace summit will open to heavy scepticism, with expectations limited both for the meeting tomorrow in Washington and in the Middle East, where the 100-day peace and recovery plan announced by Jared Kushner in Davos has stalled and aid into Gaza remains at a trickle."

"Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former US diplomat, said that the Board of Peace would have difficulty resolving the key questions in the Israel-Gaza conflict: who will govern the territory, who will provide security on the ground, and how to deal with the immediate needs of the Palestinian population. There also was little indication how a Board of Peace could break a key deadlock in negotiations between Israel and Hamas, he added."

Dozens of world leaders and delegations will meet in Washington for the inaugural Board of Peace summit, while major European allies declined to join and criticised the group's murky funding and political mandate. The White House frames the summit as a fundraising event; Trump announced over $5bn pledged for Gaza reconstruction and claimed thousands of personnel committed to an International Stabilization Force and local police. The board's mandate expanded from Gaza reconstruction to other conflicts. Expectations remain low as the 100-day Davos recovery plan has stalled, aid flows into Gaza remain minimal, and the Board faces questions on governance, security, and immediate humanitarian needs.

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