Trump launches Board of Peace that some fear rivals UN

Trump's Board of Peace Initiative

By Steve Holland

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 22 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday launched his Board of Peace, originally intended to help end the Gaza war but which he now sees having a wider role that Europe and some others fear will rival or undermine the United Nations.

Trump appeared to touch on those concerns in his opening remarks at a signing ceremony for the board, saying the new board would work with the U.N. as he listed other major diplomatic issues around the region and worldwide.

Global Participation and Funding

"Well, this is a very exciting day, long in the making, and many countries have just received their notice, and everybody wants to be a part of it, and we'll work with many others, including the United Nations," he said.

Challenges and Criticism

Trump, who will chair the board, has invited dozens of other world leaders to join it and sees the grouping addressing other global challenges beyond the stuttering Gaza truce, though he does not intend it to replace the United Nations, he has said.

Impact on Gaza Ceasefire

Some traditional U.S. allies have balked at joining the board, which Trump says permanent members must help fund with a payment of $1 billion each, either responding cautiously or declining the invitation.

Representatives from countries introduced as founder members were present in the room as Trump spoke, but Reuters could not immediately see any representatives from governments of other top global powers or from Israel or the Palestinian Authority.

GLOBAL ROLE

Apart from the U.S., no other permanent member of the U.N. Security Council - the five nations with the most say over international law and diplomacy since the end of World War Two - has yet committed to join.

Russia said late on Wednesday it was studying the proposal after Trump said it would join. France has declined. Britain said on Thursday it was not joining at present. China has not yet said whether it will join.

The board's creation was endorsed by a United Nations Security Council resolution as part of Trump's Gaza peace plan, and U.N. spokesperson Rolando Gomez said on Thursday that U.N. engagement with the board would only be in that context.

However, around 35 countries have committed to join including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Turkey and Belarus.

Few of the countries that have signed up for the board are democracies though Israel and Hungary, whose leaders are both seen as close allies of Trump and supporters of his approach to politics and diplomacy, have said they will join.

The signing ceremony will be held in Davos, Switzerland, where the annual World Economic Forum bringing together global political and business leaders is taking place.

SPUTTERING GAZA CEASEFIRE

The board's charter will task it with promoting peace around the world, a copy seen by Reuters showed, and Trump has already named other senior U.S. officials to join it, as well as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was present in Davos.

The ceasefire in Gaza, agreed in October, has sputtered for months with Israel and Hamas trading blame for repeated bursts of violence in which several Israeli soldiers and hundreds of Palestinians have been killed.

Both sides accuse each other of further violations, with Israel saying Hamas has procrastinated on returning a final body of a dead hostage and Hamas saying Israel has continued to curb aid into Gaza despite an ongoing humanitarian catastrophe.

Each side rejects the other's accusations.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted an invitation by Trump to join the board, the Israeli leader's office says. Palestinian factions have endorsed Trump's plan and given backing to a transitional Palestinian committee meant to administer the Gaza Strip with oversight by the board.

Trump has been characteristically bold in his comments on Gaza, saying the ceasefire amounts to "peace in the Middle East".

Even as the first phase of the truce stumbles, its next stage must address much tougher long-term issues that have bedevilled earlier negotiations, including Hamas disarmament, security control in Gaza and eventual Israeli withdrawal.

On Wednesday in Davos, Trump met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, whose country played a major role in Gaza truce mediation talks, and they discussed the board.

(Reporting by Steve Holland in Davos; additional reporting by Rami Ayyub in Jerusalem and Emma Farge in Geneva; writing by Angus McDowall; editing by Mark Heinrich)