Jerusalem: The European Union’s executive arm, Russia, Belarus and Thailand on Monday were the latest to be asked to join US President Donald Trump’s new Board of Peace that will supervise the next phase of the Gaza peace plan, as a top Israeli official said the initiative is “bad for Israel” and should be scrapped.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin received the invitation and that the Kremlin is now “studying the details” and would seek clarity of “all the nuances” in contacts with the US. The Thai Foreign Ministry said it was also invited and that it was reviewing the details.
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has been invited and is ready to take part, according to the country’s Foreign Ministry.
European Commission spokesperson Olof Gill confirmed that Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the commission, received an invitation and would be speaking to other EU leaders about Gaza.
Gill didn’t say whether the invitation had been accepted, but that the commission wants “to contribute to a comprehensive plan to end the Gaza conflict.”
It’s unclear how many leaders have been invited to join the board. But a Trump reference in the invitation letters that the body would “embark on a bold new approach to resolving global conflict” suggested it could act as a rival to the UN Security Council, the most powerful body of the global organisation created in the wake of World War II.
According to the World Bank’s Gaza and West Bank Interim Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (IRDNA) report released last year, it’ll take USD 53 billion to rebuild the strip.
Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Monday dismissed the Board of Peace as a raw deal for Israel and called for its dissolution.
“It is time to explain to the president that his plan is bad for the State of Israel and to cancel it,” Smotrich said at a ceremony inaugurating the new Yatziv settlement in the occupied West Bank.
“Gaza is ours, its future will affect our future more than anyone else’s. We will take responsibility for what happens there, impose military administration, and complete the mission.”
Smotrich, a hardliner who opposed the Gaza ceasefire, even suggested that Israel renew a full-scale offensive on the territory to destroy Hamas if it doesn’t abide by a “short ultimatum for real disarmament and exile.”
On Saturday, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the formation of the committee wasn’t coordinated with the Israeli government.