US President Donald Trump on Thursday promised $10 billion and Muslim-majority nations offered funding and troops for Gaza at the inaugural Board of Peace meeting in Washington.
Pakistan, however, was not named among the five nations who have committed troops for the International Stabilisation Force, which will be tasked with securing reconstruction zones and supporting a post-conflict governance arrangement in Gaza.
Trump brought together allies from around the world — many authoritarians, with few Western democrats who traditionally ally with the United States — to hail his peacemaking at the first Board of Peace meeting.
Presiding with a gavel over the meeting in the gleaming Washington building of the former US Institute of Peace, which has been gutted and renamed after the 79-year-old Republican, Trump hailed the “powerful people” who joined his board.
“We will help Gaza. We will straighten it out. We’ll make it successful,” Trump said, holding up a document with pledges before the disco beats of his adopted theme-song “YMCA” came on the speakers.
“We will make it peaceful, and we will do things like that in other spots. Spots will come up, things will happen,” Trump said.
Troops pledges
The Board of Peace came together after the Trump administration, teaming up with Qatar and Egypt, negotiated a ceasefire in October to halt two years of devastating Israeli onslaught in Gaza.
The plan’s second phase calls for the disarmament of Hamas.
In a first for an Arab country, Morocco announced it was ready to send police as well as officers to the nascent International Stabilisation Force.
The force’s American commander, Major General Jasper Jeffers, said that Albania, Indonesia, Kazakhstan and Kosovo were also sending troops and announced that an Indonesian officer would serve as his deputy.
Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, earlier said it was ready to send 8,000 troops — nearly half of the 20,000 sought.
Trump hailed Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, who attended, calling the former military officer accused of human rights abuses in East Timor a “tough cookie.”
Nickolay Mladenov, a veteran Bulgarian diplomat named high representative for Gaza by the United States, also announced the beginning of recruitment for a post-Hamas police force in Gaza and said 2,000 people had applied in the first hours.
Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi was also asked about the ISF and Pakistan’s view on it during a weekly briefing in Islamabad today.
In response, he said: “We understand that a decision is awaited on the contours of the mandate of the International Stabilisation Force, and till such time, we’re not in a position to take any decision on this matter.
“We have identified our red lines quite explicitly. The deputy prime minister and the foreign minister has done so here from this platform, and elsewhere. Pakistan can be part of a peacekeeping mandate, but we would not be part of any disarming/ demilitarisation mandates. This discussion at [the Board of Peace meeting in] Washington might take place today. We will update you as and when these developments take place.”
For his part, Trump said during the moot in Washington that he hoped the use of force to disarm Hamas would not be necessary. He said Hamas had promised to disarm and it “looks like they’re going to be doing that, but we’ll have to find out.”
Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, representing Israel at the meeting, demanded disarmament of Hamas and “a fundamental deradicalisation process” in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in Israel that Hamas will be disarmed one way or the other. “Very soon, Hamas will face a dilemma - to disarm peacefully or disarmed forcefully,” he said.
In Gaza, Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said any international force must “monitor the ceasefire and prevent the (Israeli) occupation from continuing its aggression”. Disarmament could be discussed, he said, without directly committing to it.
Gaza reconstruction
Trump, who has sharply curtailed foreign aid, said the United States would contribute $10bn to the Board of Peace. He also announced that contributing nations had raised $7bn as an initial down payment for Gaza reconstruction.
Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates each promised at least $1bn. White House Press Secretary said more than $6.5bn was pledged, presumably excluding Trump’s offer.
Trump also said FIFA will raise $75 million for soccer-related projects in Gaza and that the United Nations will chip in $2 billion for humanitarian assistance.
“Together we can achieve the dream of bringing lasting harmony to a region tortured by centuries of war, suffering,” said the realtor-turned-president, who has spoken improbably of building tourist resorts in Gaza.
Trump did not explain exactly where the money would go and whether Congress had approved the contribution he announced for the institution, which has drawn criticism for its opaque nature.
Trump will wield veto power over the Board of Peace and can remain its head even after leaving office, while countries that want to stay on permanently rather than enjoy a two-year stint will need to pay $1bn.
Critics say the Board of Peace remains vague, including how it would interact with existing institutions, including the United Nations, to which Trump has drastically cut support.
“It’s a confused mix of ambition and narcissism, unleavened by any effort at intellectual coherence,” said Bruce Jones, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
Initial input from Reuters
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