Editorial: Trump’s absurdist show

The Board of Peace meeting to rebuild Gaza, held in the absence of any Palestinian representative, is a farce

The inaugural meeting of the Donald Trump-led ‘Board of Peace’, held in Washington last week, was a cruel joke. Despite the boastful declarations by the United States President, the gathering, comprising a motley group of authoritarian leaders and some desperate to be in Trump’s good books, ended up putting up a farcical show that neither had peace on its agenda nor the legitimacy in its structure. The absurdity of the exercise was best illustrated by the absence of any Palestinian representative on the board, which was ironically created to ensure a lasting peace and development in the war-torn region. One party to the conflict has been denied a role in shaping Gaza’s future, exposing the lack of a semblance of even-handedness. While the meeting was supposed to address post-war reconstruction in Gaza, there was nothing to suggest that the leaders were even aware of the ground realities. The reconstruction ‘master plan’, prepared by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, reads like an absurdist fantasy, drawing fake inspiration from development models in places like Dubai and Singapore. Neither Israel nor Hamas appear inclined to cooperate in preparing for any meaningful reconstruction project. Known for his utter disregard for rule-based international laws, Trump has floated this idea as an attempt to side-step the United Nations and replace it with a fee-paying members’ club that runs on his personal whims. It makes a mockery of the time-tested instruments of multilateralism and reflects Trump’s propensity for deal-making outside the traditional multilateral frameworks.

Projected as a pragmatic, business-like mechanism to stabilise Gaza, the concept implicitly challenges the relevance of international institutions in managing one of the world’s most intractable conflicts. The first meeting of the Board did not yield any tangible steps in the stalled second phase of Trump’s Gaza plan, nor was there any clarity on the proposed International Stabilisation Force’s (ISF) mandate, Gaza’s demilitarisation and a timetable for withdrawal of Israeli forces and end to occupation. Just ahead of the meeting, Israel had unveiled a plan to convert large areas of the occupied West Bank into “state property” that amounts to de facto annexation. The alarming situation in the West Bank and continuing Israeli attacks on Gaza were ignored by the Board. The entire Gaza Strip is in rubble now. There is an urgent need for Palestinians to be provided with basic housing, food, water, health and education. Unless there is a dramatic change in fundamental realities in Gaza, reconstruction will remain a cruel fantasy and even a diplomatic hoax. It is highly improbable that the Board will be inclined to deliver the legitimate and accountable governance that most Palestinians seek. The Board’s current membership hardly instils confidence in its ability or willingness to help Gaza develop modern and efficient governance that serves the people of Gaza, let alone bring about elections and even a modicum of democratic self-rule.

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