Trump Invites More Leaders to Join Gaza ‘Peace Council’

• Cairo is “studying” Sisi’s request to join the board, FM says.
• Canadian prime minister plans to accept Trump’s invitation: aide.
• Argentina’s president says it will be an “honour” to join the initiative.
  

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump’s so-called “Peace Council” on post-war Gaza began taking shape on Saturday, with the leaders of Egypt, Turkey, Argentina and Canada asking to join.

The announcements from those leaders came after the US president named his secretary of state Marco Rubio, former British prime minister Tony Blair and senior negotiators Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff to the committee.

Trump has already declared himself chairman of the body as he pushes a controversial vision of economic development in the Palestinian territory, which lies in ruins after more than two years of relentless Israeli bombardment.

The moves came after a Palestinian committee of technocrats meant to govern Gaza held its first meeting in Cairo, attended by Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, who has been working with Vitkov for months on the issue.

In Canada, a senior aide to Prime Minister Mark Carney said he intended to accept Trump’s invitation, while in Turkey, a spokesman for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he had been asked to become a “founding member” of the board.

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said Cairo was “studying” a request to join President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Sharing an image of the invitation letter, Argentina’s President Javier Millay wrote to X that it would be an “honour” to join the initiative.

In a statement sent to AFPBlair said: “I thank President Trump for his leadership in establishing the Peace Council and I am honored to be appointed to its Executive Council.”

Blair is a controversial figure in the Middle East because of his role in the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Trump himself said last year that he wanted to make sure Blair was an “acceptable choice for everyone.”

Blair spent years focused on the Israeli-Palestinian issue as a spokesman for the “Middle East Quartet” – the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and Russia – after he left Downing Street in 2007.

The White House said the Peace Council would take on issues such as “building governance capacity, regional relations, reconstruction, attracting investment, large-scale financing and capital mobilization.”

The other board members so far are World Bank President Ajay Banga, an American businessman born in India; billionaire American financier Marc Rowan; and Robert Gabriel, a loyal Trump aide who serves on the US National Security Council.

Trump has created a second “Gaza executive council” that appears to be designed to have a more advisory role.

It was not immediately clear which world leaders were invited to be on each panel.

The White House, which said Friday that additional members would be named to both entities, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Israel strikes

Washington said the Gaza plan had moved on to a second phase – from implementing a ceasefire to disarming Hamas, whose October 2023 attack on Israel triggered the massive Israeli offensive.

On Friday, Trump appointed US General Jasper Jeffers to head the International Stabilization Force, which will be tasked with providing security in Gaza and training a new police force to succeed Hamas.

Jeffers, from special operations at the US Central Command, was put in charge in late 2024 of monitoring the ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, which continues periodic strikes targeting Hezbollah.

Gaza resident and former Palestinian Authority deputy minister Ali Saath was earlier appointed to head the governing committee.

Trump, a real estate developer, has previously considered turning the devastated Gaza into a Riviera-style resort area, although he has backed away from calls to forcibly remove the population.