<\/p>\n
Donald Trump has appointed the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and former British prime minister Tony Blair<\/a> to a newly created Gaza \u201cboard of peace\u201d, a body he claims will steer the next phase of reconstruction and governance in the war-ravaged territory.<\/p>\n The White House said the seven-strong \u201cfounding executive board\u201d will also include Trump\u2019s special envoy, the property developer Steve Witkoff; the World Bank president, Ajay Banga; and the president\u2019s son-in-law and long-time adviser Jared Kushner<\/a>. Trump himself will serve as chair, with further appointments expected in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n \u201cEach executive board member will oversee a defined portfolio critical to Gaza\u2019s stabilization and long-term success, including, but not limited to, governance capacity-building, regional relations, reconstruction, investment attraction, large-scale funding, and capital mobilization,\u201d a White House statement said<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe United States remains fully committed to supporting this transitional framework, working in close partnership with Israel, key Arab nations, and the international community.\u201d<\/p>\n Blair\u2019s inclusion is likely to prove contentious in the region. The former Labour leader remains a divisive figure in the Middle East for his role in the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.<\/p>\n Soon after leaving office in 2007 he became special representative of the Quartet, a group composed of the US, EU, Russia and the UN seeking peace between Israel and the Palestinians. But he became seen as too close to the Israelis and stepped down in 2015<\/a>.<\/p>\n Acknowledging that Blair remains a divisive figure, Trump conceded<\/a> last October: \u201cI\u2019ve always liked Tony, but I want to find out that he\u2019s an acceptable choice to everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n The president also appointed Aryeh Lightstone and Josh Gruenbaum as senior advisers to the board to oversee \u201cday-to-day strategy and operations\u201d. Nickolay Mladenov<\/a>, a Bulgarian politician and former UN envoy to the Middle East, will serve as the High Representative for Gaza.<\/p>\n The list was made public a day after Trump announced<\/a> the formation of the \u201cboard of peace\u201d as part of phase two of the US-brokered plan to end the conflict in Gaza. Characteristically effusive, the president described it as the \u201cGreatest and Most Prestigious Board ever assembled at any time, any place\u201d.<\/p>\n Its creation follows the formation of a 15-member Palestinian technocratic committee tasked with running day-to-day affairs in post-war Gaza<\/a>. The body will be headed by Ali Sha\u2019ath, a Gaza native and former deputy minister in the Palestinian Authority.<\/p>\n The White House said: \u201cDr Sha\u2019ath brings deep experience in public administration, economic development, and international engagement, and is widely respected for his pragmatic, technocratic leadership and understanding of Gaza\u2019s institutional realities.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump has also appointed the former head of US special forces, Maj Gen Jasper Jeffers, to lead an International Stabilisation Force (ISF), which is to oversee security across the territory.<\/p>\n The US-backed peace plan, launched on 10 October, brought about the release of all remaining hostages held by Hamas and a cessation of fighting between Israel and the militant group. The second phase<\/a> is now in motion, though reports of aid shortages and sporadic violence continue to cast a shadow over the process.<\/p>\n Since the ceasefire, Israel has also demolished thousands of structures<\/a> that survived the war, including homes and greenhouses, in the part of Gaza is still controls.<\/p>\n Hamas has yet to publicly commit to full disarmament \u2013 a key Israeli demand and one of the most contentious elements of the longer-term settlement.<\/p>\n Rosa DeLauro<\/a>, a Democratic congresswoman, said on Friday: \u201cThe success of phase two of the ceasefire in Gaza depends on full implementation of phase one, which is still lacking in several key areas, including delivery of humanitarian aid, cessation of Israeli military strikes, and the return of the final deceased hostage held by Hamas, Ran Gvili \u2026 The war must finally end before the peace can be built.\u201d<\/p>\n Seth Masket, a political scientist at the University of Denver, suggested that the board\u2019s name was undermined by Trump\u2019s bellicose actions. \u201cI hope he can find time to attend Board of Peace meetings between meetings about invasions of Venezuela, Iran, Greenland, Canada, and Minneapolis,\u201d Masket observed<\/a> on social media.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n #Trump #appoints #Blair #Kushner #Rubio #Gaza #board #peace #foreign #policy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Donald Trump has appointed the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13068,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13067"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}