Trump&x27;s &x27;Board of Peace&x27; to hold first meeting, with key U.S. allies absent Chantal Da SilvaThu, February 19, 2026 at 11:22 AM UTC 0 President Donald Trump holds a signing founding charter at the "Board of Peace" meeting on Jan. 22 in Davos, Switzerland. (Mandel Ngan / AFP via Getty Images) (Mandel Ngan) President Donald Trump's "Board of Peace" will convene for its longawaited first meeting on Thursday, with the next stage of the fragile ceasefire in Gaza in focus. Key U.S.
Trump's 'Board of Peace' to hold first meeting, with key U.S. allies absent
Chantal Da SilvaThu, February 19, 2026 at 11:22 AM UTC
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President Donald Trump holds a signing founding charter at the "Board of Peace" meeting on Jan. 22 in Davos, Switzerland. (Mandel Ngan / AFP via Getty Images) (Mandel Ngan)
President Donald Trump's "Board of Peace" will convene for its long-awaited first meeting on Thursday, with the next stage of the fragile ceasefire in Gaza in focus.
Key U.S. allies will be absent from the meeting, however, amid concern Trump may hope to challenge the United Nations with his broader ambition of using the body to help resolve global conflicts.
Representatives of at least 40 countries, including heads of state, are expected to descend on Washington for the summit, which is expected to take place at the U.S. Institute of Peace, a senior U.S. official told NBC News. At least five world leaders are expected to attend, including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Argentinian President Javier Milei, both allies of Trump.
Trump is expected to announce a multi-billion-dollar reconstruction plan for Gaza, along with contributions from board members, with the president saying over the weekend that so far more than $5 billion had been pledged, without identifying the countries that have pledged the funding.
He is also slated to unveil the details of plans for a United Nations-authorized stabilization force in Gaza, including a number of countries that the U.S. official said are planning to dedicate several thousand troops to the initiative.
A senior U.S. official told NBC news that the meeting will include updates on "all the lines of effort," including humanitarian assistance, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, and the International Stabilization Force.
The president expressed optimism in the lead-up to the summit, telling reporters aboard Air Force One on Tuesday that the "greatest leaders in the world" were joining the Board of Peace, which he initially pitched as a body to oversee peace efforts in Gaza, before drastically expanding its remit into a U.N.-style body intended to address major world conflicts.
Jabalia camp in Gaza City on Friday. (Ramez Habboub / Future Publishing via Getty Images) (Ramez Habboub)
A host of countries have committed to joining, including Armenia, Egypt, Hungary, Pakistan, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, though it remains unclear how many, if any, have committed to donating $1 billion to the initiative for permanent membership.
Notably absent from the talks, however, will be key U.S. allies, with the U.K., France, Norway, Sweden and Slovenia among the countries declining to join the body, with some citing concerns over its charter, which made no direct mention of Gaza, and its potential to undermine the U.N.'s role in peacekeeping efforts.
Pope Leo XIV was the latest to turn down Trump's invitation to join the board, with the Vatican expressing concern that "the U.N. is primarily responsible for managing these crisis situations."
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called the decision "deeply unfortunate," adding, "I don't think that peace should be partisan or political or controversial."
Some world leaders have also voiced concern over Russia's potential involvement, after an invitation was extended to the Kremlin. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said earlier this week that the country would not join the first summit but is still "working out" its long-term position, according to Russian state news agency TASS.
Pope Leo XIV during the weekly general audience at St Peter's Square in The Vatican on Wednesday. (Filippo Monteforte / AFP via Getty Images) (Filippo Monteforte)
The European Union and Italy have said they will attend the meeting, but only as observers. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, part of a right-wing government that has broadly aligned with Europe in disputes with Trump, said his country was also prepared to help train police forces in Gaza and elsewhere in the Palestinian territories, according to Reuters.
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While some U.S. allies have opted out of the initiative, at least one has been excluded from the board altogether, with Trump withdrawing Canada's invitation to join last month, shortly after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney delivered a speech at the World Economic Forum warning of a "rupture" in the world order.
Rights experts and others have condemned the Board of Peace as a colonial project, and questioned a lack of Palestinian representation on the body's Gaza executive board.
"It is a colonialist operation: others deciding for the Palestinians," said Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, according to Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' advisor Dr. Mahmoud Al-Habbash said it was a "temporary arrangement" that the "Palestinian leadership rejects under any circumstances," but he said it was the "lesser of two evils," speaking with Arabic outlet Asharq Al-Awsat.
"So far, we have not seen Gaza's interests reflected in the Board of Peace," Julie Norman, an associate fellow of Chatham House's Middle East and North Africa Program, said in a phone interview Wednesday. "That has just been clear from the way the mandate of the board has shifted."
A separate technocratic body, supervised by the Gaza executive board, will oversee day-to-day administration in Gaza, and is comprised of Palestinians and led by Palestinian official Ali Shaath.
The lack of Palestinian representation could become a more divisive issue after Israel joined the Board of Peace last week. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the announcement in a post on X last week while on a trip to Washington to meet Trump.
As it stands, the ceasefire in Gaza has continued to largely hold, despite continued Israeli airstrikes in the war-torn enclave that have seen hundreds killed amid the truce, according to Palestinian health officials, while both Hamas and Israel have traded accusations of ceasefire violations.
Meanwhile, dire conditions have persisted for Palestinians in the enclave, where most of the population remains displaced and living in tents.
A twelve-year-old, who was seriously injured after the tent she was staying in was targeted by the Israeli army, in Rafah, Gaza on Feb. 11. (Khames Alrefi / Anadolu via Getty Images) (Khames Alrefi)
Implementing the next steps of the ceasefire, including the demilitarization of Hamas, a key stipulation and sticking point in the ceasefire deal, as well as outlining plans to rebuild Gaza, where much of the enclave has been destroyed, will be a monumental task.
"We are under no illusions on the challenges regarding demilitarization, but we have been encouraged by what the mediators have reported back," a senior U.S. official said.
Trump expressed aspirations for the Board of Peace, which he acknowledged went "far beyond Gaza" on Tuesday.
"I think it'll be peace all over the world," he said, adding that while his board would work "in conjunction with the United Nations," he believed the international body hadn't "lived up to potential."
Source: "AOL Breaking"
Source: Breaking
Published: February 19, 2026 at 06:54AM on Source: PRIME TIME
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