When Donald Trump launched the Board of Peace in January, it was envisaged as the solution to violence and misery in Gaza, and a blueprint to solve other conflicts.
An initial mandate to oversee the shaky ceasefire and reconstruction of the devastated enclave morphed into a broader mission. Trump hinted the Board could replace the UN and become “one of the most consequential bodies ever created.”
Fulfilling that ambition appears as far away as ever. Conflicts across the Middle East have escalated rather than ended since the Board’s inception.
Israeli strikes have killed more than 900 Palestinians in Gaza since the October ceasefire, according to local health authorities, with a series of deadly attacks this week. Israel recently announced the expansion of its occupation from 53 to 60 per cent of the Strip.
Violence is also increasing in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces killed a seven-month old baby, Israeli settlers stormed a Palestinian village, and an Arab gunman killed an Israeli in a series of incidents this week.
War is still raging between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, with thousands of Lebanese and dozens of Israeli soldiers killed since the breakdown of another ceasefire in March.
A truce with Iran agreed in April has been followed by a diplomatic impasse and escalating exchanges of fire around the Strait of Hormuz.
With promised funding yet to materialise, and the President’s attention straying, the Board is having little impact and faces an uncertain future.
Despite the ceasefire, Israel has continued to strike inside Gaza and expand its zone of control (Photo: Abed Shaat/AFP/Getty Images)Missing funds
The Board was announced in January with great fanfare and serious financial commitments.
Trump pledged $10bn (£7.4bn) of US funding, with other founding members such as the Gulf Arab states promising $7bn to back the Board’s mission to bring relief and reconstruction to Gaza.
Those commitments have not materialised. One project insider told the Financial Times “zero dollars have been deposited” into a fund established by the World Bank by late May.
This is despite 27 countries becoming full members of the Board, at an advertised cost of $1bn each.
Professor HA Hellyer, a Middle East specialist at the Royal United Services Institute, told The i Paper a lack of transparency has discouraged members from donating funds.
“Trump has made it clear that he is the main actor in the board and that once members have donated money, they have no control over what happens to it, so nobody has put their money in yet,” he said.
Members of the Board of Peace include Israel, Pakistan and Argentina (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)Analysts have also raised concerns over the potential for corruption.
“The mixture of private investment funds with American power and geopolitics, combined with likely opaque decision-making and financial expenditure is a recipe for kleptocratic oligarchy,” wrote Hugh Lovatt of the European Council of Foreign Relations.
Some donations have been made via the board’s JPMorgan account, a spokesperson for the Board claimed.
While the World Bank is required to report on the financial position of the Gaza fund to contributors and board members, the JPMorgan account is not subject to any independent transparency requirements.
Reported donations of $3m from Morocco and $20m from the United Arab Emirates have helped fund the office of Nickolay Mladenov, a Russian diplomat who serves as the Board’s Director General on a salary of $400,000.
A further $100m has recently been provided by the UAE to train a new police force for Gaza, but the programme is yet to begin and the funds are frozen, sources told the Financial Times.
The Board also lacks power. Palestinian technocrats appointed to the committee say they have been unable to secure offices in Gaza, or even enter the Strip, with Israel blocking access. The heavy equipment required to begin reconstruction work remains blocked at the border.
Trump’s vision for a transformed and wealthy “Gaza Riviera”, full of skyscrapers and beach resorts, remains limited to AI videos.
President Trump just posted this AI generated rendering on Gaza Riviera pic.twitter.com/dAef1xIZj1
— Elton Alikaj (@eltonalikaj) February 26, 2025Roadblocks ahead
Mladenov told the UN Security Council in May that Hamas’s refusal to disarm is the “principle obstacle” to progress.
The militant faction, which remains the government of Gaza outside of Israeli-occupied territory, “refused to accept verified decommissioning, relinquish coercive control and allow a genuine civilian transition,” he said.
Hamas has said any move to disarm must be linked to the end of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory.
Human rights groups have said that making reconstruction of Gaza and the alleviation of a humanitarian crisis contingent on Hamas’ disarmament is a form of “collective punishment.”
More aid has been allowed into the territory since the ceasefire was announced, but relief groups and residents say it is insufficient.
“One in five families is eating only once a day,” the UN reported last month, “and mothers are skipping meals so their children can eat.”
Hellyer noted that Israel’s support for anti-Hamas militias inside is a “major reason why Hamas refuses to disarm.”
He added: “You can’t expect that a group like that is going to down their weapons when the Israelis are on the one side and militias that they’ve armed on the ground are on the other.”
With diplomacy at an impasse, the risk of a resumption of large-scale hostilities is increasing. Senior Israeli military leaders are pushing for a new offensive.
Israeli officials also maintain that plans to expel the Palestinian population are ongoing. Defence Minister, Israel Katz, said last month that what he called “voluntary migration “ would be implemented “at the right time and in the right manner.”
Hamas continues to rule over the Gaza strip and has refused calls from Board of Peace officials to disarm (Photo: Chris McGrath/Getty Images)Trump’s wavering commitment
After an initial burst of promotion, Trump has had little to say about the Board in recent months, with analysts suggesting he may have lost interest in the project. Speaking to The i Paper, Dr Maria Ryan, Associate Professor of American History at the University of Nottingham, said: “It is hard not to see this as a Trump vanity project.
“The Board of Peace was established at a time when Trump spoke of his desire to win a Nobel Prize but now his attention is elsewhere, which is part of the reason why the board is floundering.”
Hellyer said that the complexity of the Gaza issue may have deterred the President. “Trump has diverted his attention from the Board of Peace. He wants quick wins,” he said.
“His aim is to get a wider normalisation of Israel in the region but that’s not going to happen,” Hellyer added, noting the President’s recent efforts to expand the Abraham Accords.
“You’ve got an extremely right-wing government in Israel who have committed genocide in Gaza and have effectively annexed the West Bank. There’s no way to square that circle.”
Dr Dafydd Townley, senior teaching fellow in International Security at Portsmouth University, said the Board has shown the weaknesses of Trump’s short-termist approach to diplomacy.
“He doesn’t have long-term strategies and this is indicative of a man who, even though he is serving his second term as President, still really doesn’t understand the complexities of international diplomacy,” he said.
More than 90 per cent of homes in Gaza were destroyed during the war (Photo: Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP/Getty Images)Could the model be revived?
While the Board is having little influence on ongoing conflicts, there could yet be a space for a disruptive peacemaker.
The UN Security Council has been hamstrung by the competing interests of its permanent members, with the US, Russia, and China able to veto resolutions that go against their perceived interests.
A Trump-Saudi collaboration did at least lead to the first direct Russia-Ukraine talks in years, and Riyadh’s mediation has been key to ongoing prisoner exchanges – one of the few diplomatic successes of the war.
The US brokered ceasefire in Gaza has not ended the killing but it has at least reduced it, notes Hellyer.
But the failure to engage more of the world has been a key weakness of Trump’s Board, said Townley.
“The fact that the likes of France, Germany, the UK and other major European nations are not on side undermines its legitimacy,” he said.
The President’s credibility as a mediator has also been undermined by his failure to resolve conflicts, Townley added, suggesting that he has become more of a liability than an asset for peace deals.
“Trump has damaged the US’s reputation around the globe, so having him at the head of the board severely undermines it,” he said.
“Permanent resolutions to conflicts such as Lebanon, Iran or Ukraine won’t come through an organisation controlled by Trump.”
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