The Board of Peace was signed in Davos as a Gaza initiative. It landed as something larger: a transatlantic rupture.
A U.S. State Department official told MBN that Washington views the Board as a workaround, not a replacement, for stalled multilateral processes. “The UN framework wasn’t delivering outcomes,” the official said. “This is about speed, leverage, and accountability.”
Europe disagreed. A French diplomat based in Lebanon said the problem is not Gaza, but the structure, and the assumptions behind it. “The plan treats Gaza as a blank real estate project,” the diplomat said. “It speaks of towers, tourism zones, and new cities, but it never addresses Palestinian land ownership, even though much of Gaza is privately registered property.” The absence of any mechanism for acquiring land, the diplomat warned, creates a legal vacuum that risks turning reconstruction into expropriation.
France, Germany, Italy, and several Nordic states declined to join, citing constitutional limits and incompatibility with the UN Charter. Their objections focused on three elements: the Board’s global mandate, President Trump’s lifetime chairmanship and veto power, and a reported $1 billion contribution required for permanent seats.
Arab states made a different calculation. An Arab League official told MBN that participation was driven by pragmatism, not endorsement. “If this body is going to decide how Gaza is rebuilt, we cannot afford to be outside it,” the official said. “Presence is leverage.”
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, the UAE, and Turkey joined, securing roles in the Gaza executive committee that will oversee reconstruction and governance. For Cairo and Doha, the official said, this preserves influence over Rafah, aid flows, and postwar arrangements. “This is about shaping outcomes, not legitimizing every aspect of the framework.”
Israel’s position has been uneasy. Israel Hayom reported that Jerusalem initially objected to the Board, particularly the inclusion of Turkey and Qatar, before reversing course under U.S. pressure and joining the broader structure.
The result is a split model of order. Europe defends rules and legal continuity. Washington is testing transactions and coalitions. Regional actors are adapting to both. Calculating that influence, even inside a flawed system, is better than watching decisions be made without them.
Joe Kawly
Joe Kawly is Washington Bureau Chief for MBN and a global affairs journalist with more than twenty years covering U.S. foreign policy and Middle East politics.
A CNN Journalism Fellow and Georgetown University graduate, he reports from Washington at the intersection of power and diplomacy, explaining how decisions made in the U.S. capital shape events across the Arab world.
