By Kanishka Singh and Simon Lewis
WASHINGTON, July 30 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday his so-called Board of Peace reached a deal for the total disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territory.
Trump said the agreement was "historic" and will be implemented in phases, with Israeli forces, which control about two-thirds of Gaza as of late April, withdrawing from the territory as disarmament proceeds.
The "Board of Peace"
initiative has been criticized by rights advocates who have raised concerns about what they call an imperial structure and by those who see it as undermining the United Nations. Trump allies praise it as an innovative approach to tackle complex issues.
WHAT IS THE 'BOARD OF PEACE'?
Trump first proposed the board last September when he announced his plan to end Israel's war in Gaza. He later said the board's remit would be expanded beyond Gaza to tackle other conflicts worldwide, with Trump as its chair. Such efforts have traditionally been the role of the United Nations.
Member states would be limited to three-year terms unless they pay $1 billion each to fund the board's activities and earn permanent membership, its charter said.
The White House in January named U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner as members of the initiative's founding Executive Board.
WHICH COUNTRIES HAVE JOINED THE BOARD SO FAR?
The board's official website has listed over two dozen countries as founding members of the initiative, including the U.S. and Washington's main Middle Eastern allies.
They include Israel and Saudi Arabia, along with Egypt and Qatar, which helped mediate talks for the Israel-Hamas ceasefire reached in October. Others in the region include Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
From elsewhere in the world, there are Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Cambodia, El Salvador, Hungary, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Mongolia, Pakistan, Paraguay, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
WHICH COUNTRIES HAVE NOT JOINED THE BOARD?
Washington's key Western allies as well as major powers of the Global South such as Brazil, India, Mexico and South Africa have not accepted an offer to join.
Leaders of Britain, the European Union, France, Germany, Norway and Sweden said they will not join the board.
Trump rescinded an invitation for Canada earlier this year after he took issue with a speech by Prime Minister Mark Carney in Davos.
Brazil and Mexico have said they will not join the initiative, citing Palestinian absence from the board. The Vatican has not joined, saying efforts to handle crisis situations should be managed by the United Nations.
China and Russia, both veto-wielding members of the United Nations Security Council, have not joined.
WHAT POWER DOES IT HAVE?
The U.N. Security Council passed a U.S.-drafted resolution recognizing the board in November, welcoming it as a transitional and temporary administration "that will set the framework, and coordinate funding for the redevelopment of Gaza" under Trump's plan.
The resolution authorized the board to deploy a temporary International Stabilization Force in Gaza, while limiting its scope to only Gaza and only through 2027. The board is required to report on its progress to the 15-member Security Council every six months.
China and Russia abstained, saying the resolution did not give the U.N. a clear role in Gaza's future.
Beyond Gaza, it remains unclear what legal authority or enforcement tools, if any, the board will have or how it will work with the U.N. and other international organizations.
Under the board's charter, it will undertake "peace-building functions in accordance with international law." Its chairman, Trump, will have extensive executive power, including the ability to veto decisions and remove members, subject to some constraints.
WHAT HAVE CRITICS SAID?
Rights experts said that Trump overseeing a board to supervise a foreign territory's affairs resembles a colonial structure, and have criticized the board for not including a Palestinian representative even though it is meant to supervise the temporary governance of a Palestinian territory.
Critics also cited Blair's inclusion, given his role in the Iraq war and the history of British imperialism in the Middle East.
The board has drawn scrutiny for including countries whose human rights track records have been widely condemned by rights groups, such as some Middle Eastern powers as well as Belarus and El Salvador.
There has been particular criticism over the inclusion of Israel on a board meant to oversee Gaza's temporary governance, given the Palestinian territory has been left devastated by an Israeli military assault that has killed tens of thousands, caused a hunger crisis, internally displaced Gaza's entire population and led to assessments of genocide by rights experts, scholars and U.N. inquiries.
Israel has called its actions self-defense after Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages in a 2023 attack.
WHAT HAS THE BOARD DONE IN RECENT MONTHS?
Trump held the board's first meeting in February in which he said nations had contributed $7 billion to a Gaza reconstruction fund aimed at rebuilding the enclave once Hamas disarms.
Estimates for rebuilding Gaza, which has been reduced to rubble after more than 2.5 years of Israel's assault, range up to $70 billion.
Days after the start of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, Indonesia, a member of the board, said discussions with the board were on hold due to the Iran war. The board subsequently continued talks related to Trump's Gaza plan.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in April he was cooperating with the board on Gaza. That month, the Financial Times newspaper reported the board held talks with state-owned Dubai multinational DP World about managing supply chains and infrastructure projects in Gaza.
In early July, a board official said it was planning a pilot humanitarian zone for Palestinians in Gaza.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh, Simon Lewis, Menna AlaaElDin, Alexander Cornwell, Steve Holland and Michelle Nichols; Editing by Gareth Jones, Don Durfee and Michael Perry)
