Trump demands $1 billion payment for position on Gaza Peace Board

The United States government is asking countries that want a permanent position on the Peace Board for the Gaza Strip, a body created by President Donald Trump to ensure security and reconstruction in the Palestinian enclave, to contribute at least 1 billion dollars, reports Bloomberg. According to the article, the minimum contribution of 1 billion is proposed as a condition for full membership of the organization, which Trump wants to present as a new international platform for conflict resolution, initially focused on Gaza.

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“Each member state shall exercise a mandate of no more than three years from the entry into force of this Charter, subject to renewal by the president. The three-year mandate shall not apply to member states that contribute more than $1 billion in liquid funds to the Peace Board within the first year of the entry into force of the Charter,” reads the draft, cited by the agency.

Preliminary Structure

According to a draft of statutes for the proposed group, the U.S. president would be its inaugural president and would decide who would be invited to be members. Decisions would be made by majority vote, with one vote for each member state present, but all would be subject to the president’s approval. The board would be chaired by Trump and composed exclusively of heads of state or government, while a separate executive council would include political and business figures, including the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and the president of the World Bank, Ajay Banga. Several invited nations have expressed concern about the decisive weight that the design gives to the US president, who would retain broad powers to veto decisions and decide who sits at the table. Thus, it is estimated that the leader of the North American country would control the money, something that would be considered unacceptable for most of those who intend to join the organization, in addition to enjoying the power to remove a member, subject to the veto of a two-thirds majority of the member states. European diplomats cited by Bloomberg and other media outlets warn that the economic threshold for entering the Peace Board and Trump’s prerogatives may turn the initiative into an instrument of US influence that de facto competes with the UN, rather than complementing existing multilateral structures.

• This Friday, the White House announced that a “peace council” will oversee the new Gaza government and will be formed, among others, by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair; U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio; and Jared Kushner, son-in-law of Donald Trump.