Trump Holds First Board of Peace Meeting

At the launch of his "Board of Peace" on Thursday, Trump told leaders from roughly two dozen countries that Washington would commit $10 billion over 10 years to rebuilding Gaza, calling the new body "the most prestigious board ever put together" and saying it would both support and effectively oversee the United Nations. The US pledge is part of a decade-long reconstruction plan that will need congressional approval, administration officials said, with about $1.25 billion initially aimed at clearing unexploded ordnance, temporary housing, security, and medical needs, Politico reports.

• Member states and organizations announced more than $6.5 billion in additional pledges, including $1.2 billion from the United Arab Emirates and $1 million from Saudi Arabia, with the World Bank set to manage and disburse funds under the board's direction. At least five countries agreed to contribute troops to a Gaza stabilization force, and 2,000 applicants have signed up for a new Palestinian police force, officials said.
• The commitments come as the World Bank, US, and the European Union estimate Gaza's recovery cost at about $53 billion after Israel's campaign following the 2023 Hamas attack.

• The new enterprise is already raising questions abroad and in Washington. Trump has installed himself as lifelong chairman with veto power and the right to pick his successor—an arrangement that several diplomats say is causing hesitation among larger nations.
• "Most countries that matter do not want an ill-defined, permanently Trump-led organization to compete with or supersede existing multilateral organizations," a European diplomatic official tells Politico. "That's why you saw that only smaller countries, with narrower individual reasons to benefit from saying yes" were the only ones to sign up, the official says. The Guardian notes that "many of the founding member countries are run as military regimes or dictatorships, while others joined to appease Trump.'
• Hungary and Bulgaria are the only EU members to formally join; most major European countries sent observers, while Norway, France, and the EU have ruled out membership. The Vatican has also said no. "They all want to become full members," Trump said Thursday, adding that some countries "are trying to play cute."
• Trump, pushing back against criticism that he is trying to create a rival to the UN, argued that the Board of Peace would make the UN more viable, the AP reports. "Someday I won't be here. The United Nations will be," he said. "I think it is going to be much stronger, and the Board of Peace is going to almost be looking over the United Nations and making sure it runs properly."