The Board of Peace: A Hollow Promise in Gaza’s Descent into Chaos

The latest attempt to broker peace in Gaza, the Board of Peace, has proven to be a failed experiment that perpetuates the status quo – a perpetual state of siege and suffocation for the Palestinian people. Established by the Trump administration as part of its 20-point peace plan, this supposedly impartial body has been little more than a fig leaf for Israel’s ongoing colonization of Gaza.

One of the most glaring problems with the Board of Peace is its lack of teeth. With no real power, financing, or enforcement mechanisms at its disposal, it can only offer platitudes and promises that are destined to remain unfulfilled. The board’s attempt to scale down the reconstruction plan to a pilot project near Rafah highlights its inadequacy in addressing the pressing needs of the Gazan population.

The Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, another key plank of the Trump administration’s peace plan, has been all but forgotten. Instead, Israel continues to kill Palestinians with impunity, demolish their homes, and expand its control over Palestinian land. The Board of Peace has taken no action in response to these atrocities, instead scapegoating Hamas as the principal obstacle to implementing the ceasefire.

This one-sided scrutiny is a clear indication that the board’s primary function is not peacemaking but providing cover for Israel’s ongoing occupation. By framing Palestinians as responsible for the lack of progress, the Board of Peace perpetuates the narrative that Palestine is an ungovernable entity in need of external supervision – a convenient pretext for continued Israeli control.

The board’s arrangements allowing Israel to control the flow of aid into Gaza are another egregious example of its complicity in maintaining the status quo. Despite Trump’s plan stipulating that neither Hamas nor Israel should interfere with assistance, the Israeli military continues to dictate both the quantity and type of aid allowed into the Strip.

The lack of confidence in this failed experiment is evident in the major European countries’ and China’s decision not to join the Board of Peace. The initial pledges of $10 billion from the US and a further $7 billion from other countries have proven hollow, with no funds actually received by the World Bank account established for the board.

The draft resolution seeking immunity from prosecution is perhaps the starkest sign of the Board of Peace’s failure. In effect, it is attempting to impose a foreign governance structure that obscures Israeli colonization behind an international body – a clear indication of its true intentions.

As Gaza teeters on the brink of collapse, it is time for states that support the two-state solution and the peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to take collective action. The UN should assume responsibility for overseeing any relevant functions away from the board and transfer them to established UN bodies. It’s high time for the international community to recognize that the Board of Peace has failed in its mission, and it’s time to move on.

The continued existence of the Board of Peace is an international disgrace, and it needs to end. The people of Gaza deserve better than to be held hostage by this hollow promise of peace.