World diplomacy reduced to a curtain-raiser. That's how one could sum up the first meeting of Donald J. Trump's Board of Peace, held on Thursday, February 19, at the Donald J. Trump United States of Peace, not far from the Donald J. Trump-JFK Center for the Performing Arts.
The meeting showcased the world's pro-Trump elite: the unmistakeable Argentinian president Javier Milei, the towering Albanian president Edi Rama (standing out in every photo), Indonesia's Prabowo Subianto, the (bogus) king of Azerbaijani gas Ilham Aliyev, and the (real) king of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. And then high-ranking officials from Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, and Morocco. As a side: a small crowd of various observers, foreign ministers and diplomats. All too involved not to be there, but unable to formally join the Board due to public opinion and constitutions. No representative from Palestine was present. Not even as an observer.
The atmosphere resembles a school trip, with the US president playing the role of the out-of-control head boy. He jokes about the name of the venue: “Marco [Rubio] chose the location. I swear I didn't know anything about it!” Then he teases the absentees (half of Europe), “they will be on Zoom following us right now,” reminding them that this “is the most prestigious board ever assembled” of males over 50 (fortunately, not only white). So much so that he mocks 47-year-old Santiago Peña (President of Paraguay): "It's nice to be young and beautiful. But that doesn't mean I like it. I don't like young men. Women, I like them!"
At least he does not insult transgender athletes and “Obama-chimpanzees”: it is still a very high-level event. However, there is little talk of plans, strategies, law, and values. A theater of the absurd. Incidentally, the meeting of the Board of Peace takes place while the US and Israel, with their board of war, are preparing for a large-scale conflict with Iran. According to to Axios, this could “last several weeks and have lasting consequences.”
EU role has been obscure and confusing. The only Member States to formally join are Hungary and Bulgaria. Austria, Croatia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, and the EU itself sent observers. "Many of our European friends are here today, and we look forward to welcoming them as full members. Everyone wants to become a full member”, Trump said, while acknowledging that “some are trying to play the wag". According to the most acute observers, the message aims those fair-weather friends, notably Italy and Slovakia, that waver on their position toward Washington. No one bothered to remind Trump about United Nations’ importance.
Amidst this fanfare, the Board's goals as well remain obscure and confusing. On paper, the goal is to reconstruct Gaza and stabilize the Middle East. After the president's surreal 47-minute speech, the 25 countries that joined Trump's new initiative announced over $6.5 billion of financial commitments. This money adds up to $10 billion from the White House. Ajay Banga, the institution’s president announced that the economic resources will be managed by the World Bank, an institution close to the White House – literally, since its headquarters are only three blocks from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
US Major General Jasper Jeffers said that there will also be a security force, since five countries committed troops to a new stabilization force for Gaza – 6,000 men from Indonesia alone. No further specifics were given on the mandate and legal framework of the military force. Moreover, according to Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov, senior representative of the Gaza Peace Council, 2,000 people applied to join a new Palestinian police force in Gaza
A joint report by the World Bank, the UN, and the European Union, stated that the reconstruction will cost approximately $53 billion. This goal is far beyond the Board's resources, also considering that the Board did not even specify what exactly it intends to rebuild. Perhaps nothing, given that the current Israeli government (absent from the meeting) appears unwilling to rebuild the Palestinian infrastructure that is currently destroying.
The day before Trump's summit, a group of diplomats from the UN Security Council expressed several concerns about Gaza. These include Israel's continued attacks and the scarce amount of aid entering the Strip, as well as Israel's military raids and expansion plans in the occupied West Bank. The escalation of Israeli settlers has never been as fast as in recent months, with repeated violent actions in the occupied Palestinian territories and in Gaza itself. On Thursday night, Israeli MP Limor Son Har-Melech, member of the far-right party Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) crossed into the Strip, along with dozens of Israeli settlers. There, they planted trees and declared that, under the protection of the IDF itself, “Gaza will be Jewish”. Unpunished attacks on families and farmers are becoming increasingly frequent in Area C (Palestinian but controlled by the Israeli army). They increased since ultra-Zionist minister Bezalel Smotrich’s declared that he wants to legalize illegal settler settlements. Effectively this would nullify the Oslo Accords, in an endless escalation aimed at removing Palestinians from as much territory as possible.
Once again, the United Nations condemned Israel's violations. “The US-led comprehensive plan must be fully implemented, along with urgent actions to reduce tension and reverse the dangerous trajectory in the occupied West Bank,” said Rosemary DiCarlo, the UN Under-Secretary-General, who has been condemning the actions of Netanyahu's cabinet for months.
The reality is that the reconstruction of Gaza is governed by a board that includes the worst heads of state of the last fifty years. At the same time, while hordes of trolls delegitimize the international order and diplomacy on social media, the EU is divided by internal and external forces, Israel goes unpunished, the UN is on the verge of economic and political bankruptcy, war with Iran is imminent, and the conflict in Ukraine does not seem to have reached the hoped-for turning point. Kant's perpetual peace has never been so far away.
Cover: Photo by World Economic Forum/Jason Alden/UPI/Shutterstock (16392910a). US President Donald Trump speaks at the Board of Peace meeting during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, January 22, 2026. US President Trump announces the establishment of the Board of Peace in Davos, Switzerland - January 22, 2026, AGI Agency