Reports suggest the members of the board, set to include Sir Tony Blair and US President Trump, will have to contribute $1 billion to secure a permanent seat
January 19, 2026 10:29
Over the weekend, the US announced the membership of the long-awaited Board of Peace (BoP), which will oversee the post-war governance of Gaza.
Among the lineup were, mostly, the names that had been expected and widely reported for several months, including former UK Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair and President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
The leaders of Pakistan and Jordan have subsequently confirmed that they have received invitations to serve on the board, while Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has confirmed that he accepted the role.
Unexpectedly, though, the White House confirmed the board would manage two new committees, the "Founding Executive Board" (FEB) and the "Gaza Executive Board". (GEB)
The former will focus on "investment and diplomacy", while the latter will oversee the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), created to manage the day-to-day governance of the Strip.
But the makeup of the GEB has already drawn sharp criticism from Israel after it was announced that Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Ali Thawadi, a former Qatari diplomat, would be members.
Jerusalem has previously insisted that Turkey should have no involvement with post-war Gaza, especially given President Erdoğan’s open calls for Israel’s destruction, while Qatar is a key political and financial backer of Hamas.
Fidan and Thawadi will be joined by Egypt's intelligence chief, Hassan Rashad, and Reem Al-Hashimy, the UAE's minister for international cooperation.
No Palestinians have yet been named on the committees, while the only Israeli is Yakir Gabay, a prominent businessman now based in Cyprus.
Reacting to the announcement, Prime Minister Netanyahu's office put out a statement, reading: "The announcement regarding the composition of the Gaza Executive Board, which is subordinate to the Board of Peace, was not coordinated with Israel and runs contrary to its policy."
Similar condemnation came from Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, who called the new boards a "diplomatic failure for Israel".
Yet it doesn't appear there was much appetite for change in Washington, with one US official quoted by Axios saying of Netanyahu: "This is our show, not his show.
"If he wants us to deal with Gaza, it will have to be our way. We worked over him. Let him focus on Iran and let us deal with Gaza.
"We are doing him a favour. If this fail,s he can say, ‘I told you so’. We know that if it succeeds, he will claim credit."
There was similar controversy surrounding the announcement of the NCAG's membership too.
The new committee, made up of 15 Palestinian officials, will be led by Ali Shaath, a former deputy minister of the Palestinian Authority (PA).
But, throughout the ceasefire negotiations, the US had insisted that none of the Palestinians involved in the new technocratic governance panel would be associated with either Hamas or the PA.
In response to the announcement, Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel's national security minister, said: "The Gaza Strip does not need any 'administrative committee' to oversee its 'rehabilitation' - it needs to be cleansed of Hamas terrorists."
And it appears board members will also have to pay a sizeable fee to secure their places.
Per Bloomberg, a leaked draft of the BoP's founding document revealed another previously undisclosed rule - that all members will serve three-year terms only unless they contribute $1 billion for a permanent seat.
The resulting fortune would be controlled by the board's chair, President Trump, to be used to fund its operations.
The chair will also have the power to set the agenda for board meetings and direct its efforts.
For his part, Trump has insisted that the money will be used to "rebuild Gaza" and not to fund "exorbitant salaries" for board members.
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