00:00Now, for some, full of hope. For others, already full of controversy.
00:04This is Donald Trump. He's today set to preside over the first meeting of his Board of Peace.
00:08Unresolved questions on the future of Gaza still hanging over the event,
00:12expected to include representatives from more than 45 nations,
00:15the disarmament of Hamas militants, the size of the Reconstruction Fund,
00:20and the flow of humanitarian aid to the war-battered populace of Gaza among the major questions.
00:26That is, the Board still includes Israel, but not Palestinian representatives.
00:30And, of course, Trump's suggestion that the Board could eventually address challenges beyond Gaza.
00:35Well, before we talk about all the latest, let's hear from the White House.
00:40President Trump will host a Board of Peace meeting at the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace,
00:45where he will announce that member states have pledged more than $5 billion
00:50towards the Gaza humanitarian and reconstruction efforts
00:53and have also committed thousands of personnel to the International Stabilisation Force
00:59and local police to maintain security and peace for Gazans.
01:04Caroline Levitt there with Philip Taylor, International Affairs Editor, is with me here on set.
01:08Philip, just remind us, first of all, then, what this Board of Peace is, what it actually intends to do.
01:13Right. Well, first of all, this Board of Peace is basically all about Donald Trump.
01:16I'll just sum it up with a statement that was printed in the U.S. press this week,
01:20this quoting Donald Trump, the most consequential international body in history ever assembled of any kind.
01:27And these talks are taking place today at the Donald Trump, Donald J. Trump Institute for Peace,
01:32which was named the Donald J. Trump Institute for Peace by Donald Trump.
01:37So this is what the Board of Peace is all about.
01:40It has a $1 billion joining fee for countries who want to come on board for a permanent seat.
01:45Fifty countries have been invited. About 26 or so have accepted so far.
01:50That's according to the French newspaper Le Monde.
01:53There have been 14 refusals.
01:56Now, this Board of Peace, as I said, is all about Donald Trump.
01:59Donald Trump has been given the job of chairman for life,
02:03which means that he can carry on being head of the Board of Peace even after he is no longer
02:07president of the United States.
02:09There are executive members also on board, including Steve Witkoff, his special envoy,
02:15the one who is usually in Russia or the Middle East.
02:18There is Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law.
02:21Mark Rowan, the CEO of Apollo Global Management.
02:23Marco Rubio, the U.S. Secretary of State.
02:26Robert Gabriel Jr., who is a deputy national security advisor.
02:29And two consultants.
02:31One of them is Tony Blair, the former U.K. prime minister,
02:34and the other being A.J. Bangor, the president of the World Bank.
02:38Now, 47 nations are expected to be in Washington today to take part in these talks.
02:45Of course, that is more than the 26 who have accepted membership of the Board of Peace
02:48because there will be observers who won't have a role in deciding what is going to be decided there.
02:54There are several notable absentees from the Board of Peace.
02:59Many of the European Union countries have said they're not joining.
03:02France is not a member.
03:04Neither is the United Kingdom, nor Canada, nor China.
03:08And as for Russia, many have been saying, well, how could Russia be a member of a Board of Peace
03:13when it's a country that has invaded Ukraine and cannot possibly be a member of a peace-seeking organisation?
03:19They're not a member so far.
03:21The invitation has been sent out.
03:22But so far, Vladimir Putin has not said whether or not he's going to come on board.
03:26So what exactly is on the agenda for the talks, then?
03:28Basically, today, Stuart, it's going to be the Gaza peace proposal put forward by Donald Trump,
03:34which was adopted last year by the United Nations.
03:38Donald Trump says that he so far raised about $5 billion for humanitarian and reconstruction efforts in Gaza.
03:46But there are a series of problems that he is going to have to face.
03:51The first one is, problem one, is that these are just pledges.
03:54And many countries have said, OK, we're willing to come up with the money,
03:57but we're not going to give you the money until we have the assurances there is a proper peace proposal
04:02that's going to move forward in the Gaza Strip.
04:04There are too many uncertainties at the moment about whether or not this is going to hold,
04:09whether the war could start all over again.
04:10We're not going to invest money in a territory where we risk losing everything if the war is not already
04:16at an end.
04:16Problem two, there is very little progress so far in implementing this second part of the Gaza peace proposal.
04:25That's to say the disarming of Hamas.
04:28Who is going to do that?
04:29The further withdrawal of the Israeli army.
04:32No date has been set for the Israeli army to fully withdraw from the Gaza Strip.
04:36And the third one is the arrival of an international stabilization force.
04:39Who is going to contribute soldiers to that?
04:41And when will that force be operational in the Gaza Strip?
04:44Problem three is it's still unclear who the signatories are going to be in Washington today.
04:51Benjamin Netanyahu is not going to be there.
04:53He's going to send his foreign minister.
04:55There will be no Palestinian representative because the 15 member Gaza National Administration Committee
05:00is not operational in the Gaza Strip yet.
05:03It's still in Cairo.
05:04It's not been invited to the Board of Peace.
05:07And Egypt and Turkey, who both said they are willing to get involved in trying to disarm Hamas,
05:12have not been accepted by the Israelis as bona fide people who can actually get involved in the peace process.
05:22So all of this looks incredibly complicated.
05:27And there are a lot of questions being raised as to how efficient all of this is going to be
05:31compared to what the United Nations could also be doing at the same time
05:34to try to implement some kind of peace agreement in the Gaza Strip.
05:38Yeah, of course, it does raise that crucial question, doesn't it?
05:40I mean, where does it leave the UN?
05:41Where does it also leave those countries like France, for example, that have refused to be part of the Board
05:46of Peace?
05:46Well, as I said, as far as the countries that are not involved in this are concerned,
05:50basically the European Union, apart from Hungary,
05:53Viktor Orban, who has accepted a seat on the Board of Peace,
05:57and Canada and China,
05:59they are all expected to take on a role of
06:05just watching what's going on in the sidelines.
06:07But that means they can't take part in the discussions.
06:10It's Donald Trump who's pulling the strings here.
06:13And the delegates that have been part of the Board of Peace that have been accepted on
06:17are the ones who are going to have to make the final decision.
06:20So what role those other countries are going to play, we don't really know right now.
06:24Now, there are three questions which need to be answered in conclusion to all of this.
06:28The first one is the security in the Gaza Strip.
06:31Who is going to ensure it?
06:32The police there are not fully trained.
06:34When is that going to be up and running?
06:36And when will Israel stop its attacks in the Gaza Strip?
06:39But since this ceasefire was signed back in October,
06:41500 Palestinians are believed to have been killed,
06:43and over 1,000 others have been wounded.
06:48Second conclusion question is Hamas.
06:51Who will negotiate with them?
06:53And who is going to disarm Hamas and make sure that Hamas is agreeing to be disarmed?
06:58What will the role be of the Palestinian Authority,
07:00which seems to have been pushed out of this completely?
07:03And third question in conclusion is what about humanitarian aid?
07:08It needs to be stepped up.
07:10Since the ceasefire, Israel has banned 37 humanitarian organizations from coming into the Gaza Strip.
07:17It's unclear who's going to be in charge of humanitarian aid
07:20and what sort of form that humanitarian aid is going to take.
07:23Just to give you one example,
07:26no solid buildings are being allowed into the Gaza Strip.
07:28It's still only tense and there are still many people who are suffering badly
07:32from the lack of ready, available food and water.
07:36Philip National Brothers, Philip Turner, International Affairs Editor here on France 24.
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