India on Thursday attended the first meeting of Gaza Board of Peace in Washington as an Observer.
Chargé d’Affaires to US, Namgya C Khampa represented India as an observer at the US Institute of Peace.
The White House had formally invited 50 countries to join the Board of Peace. Approximately 26 countries have joined the Gaza Board of Peace as founding members of the board.
The group, launched on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum last month, is a proposed international transitional mechanism aimed at managing Gaza in the aftermath of prolonged conflict. Its core objective is to support stabilisation, reconstruction, and civilian governance while preventing a power vacuum.
During the meeting, commander of the force said five countries have already committed troops to an international force that is supposed to deploy to Gaza as part of the US-brokered 20-point ceasefire agreement, CNN reported.
Indonesia, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Kosovo and Albania have committed troops to take part in the International Stabilization Force (ISF), said US Army Maj. Gen. Jasper Jeffers.
He also announced that Indonesia will take a deputy commander role in the International Stabilization Force in Gaza and Morocco will contribute troops.
“I have offered and Indonesia has accepted the position of deputy commander for the ISF,” Jeffers said.
Lauding President Trump over Board of Peace, British former prime minister Tony Blair said the board’s vision for Gaza and the Middle East entails “not a phony peace of declarations no one means and agreements no one intends to keep, but a genuine commitment to a region where whether you are a Muslim, Jew, Christian, of any faith or none, you can rise by your own efforts and feel your government by your side, not on your back”.
CNN quoted President Donald Trump saying that Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan and Kuwait have given more than $7 billion toward Gaza relief and that Indonesia, Morocco, Albania, Kosovo and Kazakhstan “have all committed troops and police to stabilize Gaza.”
