US President Donald Trump will convene the inaugural meeting today of his Board of Peace, an organization ostensibly focused on rebuilding Gaza but that critics fear has ambitions of unseating the UN as the main forum for global diplomacy.
More than 45 countries are to take part, and the White House will announce upwards of $5 billion in pledges, but much is still to be resolved.
The EU is present as an observer, but many European nations have eschewed invites; Southeast Asian and Gulf leaders, by contrast, are more enthusiastic. Israel is a member but no Palestinian representatives are involved, despite the Board’s stated focus on Gaza. “On the ground,” a Western diplomat told Le Monde, “nothing is happening.”