US President Donald Trump plans to announce a multi-billion-dollar reconstruction plan for Gaza and share details on a United Nations-mandated stabilisation force when he chairs the first meeting of the “Board of Peace” on 19 February, Reuters reported on Thursday.
The report said that around 20 countries, including heads of state, will attend the meeting in Washington, DC.
Trump unveiled the Board of Peace at the Davos Economic Forum in Switzerland last month.
The board includes nearly all major Middle Eastern countries as members, including Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. Pakistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Indonesia are also members.
Reuters reported that Trump will announce commitments from “several countries” to provide “several thousand troops” to the stabilisation force.
Indonesia said on Tuesday that it is preparing to deploy up to 8,000 soldiers to Gaza under Trump’s peace plan. The potential mobilisation was announced following a meeting between Indonesia’s army chief of staff, Maruli Simanjuntak, and President Prabowo Subianto.
“We are just preparing ourselves in case an agreement is reached and we have to send peacekeeping forces,” Prabowo told journalists.
Reconstruction funds
Meanwhile, Trump wants richer states like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE to provide funding for the reconstruction of Gaza.
Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, pitched Gaza’s reconstruction at the Davos economic forum in front of world leaders, though he holds no official role in the administration. The White House has previously said he conducts negotiations on Trump’s behalf as a volunteer, but Kushner has significant personal financial dealings in Israel and some Gulf states.
“In the beginning, we were toying with the idea of saying ‘let’s build a free zone’, and then we have a ‘Hamas zone’. Then we said let’s just plan for catastrophic success,” he said.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman demurred in November when Trump asked him at the White House if he would contribute funds to Gaza’s reconstruction.
Likewise, Qatar, which previously sent aid to the enclave in coordination with Israel and hosts Hamas’s leadership at the request of the US, said it will not fund Gaza’s reconstruction.
“We are not the ones who are going to write the check to rebuild what others destroyed… Israel flattened this land,” Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said at the Doha Forum in December.
UAE role?
Trump’s board meeting could be a test case to see if the peacekeeping force and economic pledges actually materialise.
The UN provided a mandate for a Gaza stabilisation force in November. But Arab and Muslim states have baulked at the idea of sending troops to Gaza, fearing they will be caught between an unarmed Hamas and Israeli soldiers who still occupy around 53 percent of the enclave.
They are wary of their troops being seen as providing cover for Israel’s occupation and hundreds of ceasefire violations.
To be sure, Trump has achieved some movement on Gaza, according to his plan for the enclave.
The US has backed a committee of Palestinian technocrats to oversee the enclave. The technocrats report to Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza.
The former Bulgarian diplomat and UN official is seen as close to the UAE. The Gulf state, which is currently clashing with Saudi Arabia, has drafted plans to build a compound for Palestinians in the part of Gaza militarily occupied by Israel, according to Reuters.
Gaza’s fragile ceasefire has been riddled by violations as Israeli strikes kill hundreds of Palestinians. Hamas has yet to disarm as mandated by the ceasefire, insisting that Israel first leave the entire Gaza Strip.
Gaza is divided into two by a so-called “yellow line”, with Israel occupying around 53 percent of the enclave and the centre held by Hamas. In reality, Israel continues to impose a full blockade on Gaza via the Mediterranean Sea.
