Politico: Trump secretly engaging international partners to stabilise, rebuild Gaza

Donald Trump’s Board of Peace is quietly engaging with international partners, including the EU and the Palestinian Authority, to stabilise Gaza and prepare for post-conflict governance, Norway’s foreign minister has said.

The U.S. president set up the Washington-led Board of Peace, which held its first meeting in February, as the main vehicle for overseeing reconstruction and governance of the Gaza Strip, Politico writes.

But Norway’s Espen Barth Eide, who was in Brussels on April 20 for back-to-back events focused on the Israeli-Hamas conflict, said the Board of Peace is increasingly liaising with international institutions that have long experience in Gaza — including the Palestinian Authority.

“The Americans who have been tasked with the Board of Peace … are also discovering that the established institutions are quite useful. The World Bank, the [United Nations], different agencies actually have a lot of experience,” he said in an interview at Norway’s representation to the EU.

Trump’s administration has kept the Palestinian Authority somewhat at arm’s length in plans to govern Gaza, notably denying entry to the United States to anyone holding a Palestinian Authority passport.

But chief EU diplomat Kaja Kallas welcomed Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa in Brussels as a special guest, and Eide said that relations between Mustafa and the Board of Peace were better than they publicly appeared.

“The prime minister of the Palestinian Authority tells me that the conversation with the U.S. has been going much better, and that there is practical cooperation,” he said, adding that Trump’s plan for the governance of Gaza includes a long-term role for the Palestinian Authority after it has carried out reforms.

Eide — who co-hosted a donor conference called the “Ad Hoc Liaison Committee” on April 20 alongside Kallas — pointed to the presence of Trump’s High Representative for Gaza, Nickolay Mladenov, at the event in Brussels as proof of bridge-building.

“What we really want to do is build a bridge between the established institutions … and the new structures which have come out of the ceasefire in Gaza — the Board of Peace and the NCAG,” he said, referring to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, a technocratic body meant to oversee day-to-day activities in the Palestinian territory.

An official from the Board of Peace, granted anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly, told POLITICO that the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee was not a rival but rather a consolidation of efforts.

Asked why the disarmament of Hamas had not been completed after months, Eide pointed to the absence of a police force or an international stabilisation force — both promised in Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza.

“Now that the U.S. has taken a strong leadership and Trump made this one of his peace achievements, it also means that, fine, we accept this [U.S. leadership], but they also have to deliver on this [commitments],” he said.

By Aghakazim Guliyev