US President Donald Trump headed home from Davos on Thursday after unveiling his new Board of Peace and once again casting himself as a global peacemaker, despite widespread scepticism over a plan that aims to rewrite the world order.
Trump officials also unveiled ambitious plans for a “New Gaza” during the ceremony at the World Economic Forum, with the US leader describing the devastated Palestinian territory as “great real estate.”
Trump’s Board of Peace was created after Trump expressed frustration at failing to win the Nobel Peace Prize and ramped up accusations that the United Nations had failed to resolve a host of international conflicts.
“Well, this is exciting,” Trump said as he was joined on stage by leaders and officials from 19 countries to sign the board’s founding charter in the Swiss ski resort.
“This board has the chance to be one of the most consequential bodies ever created,” he said.
The Board of Peace, of which Trump is the chairman, was initially designed to oversee the Gaza truce and the reconstruction of the strip after the war between Hamas and Israel.
But its purpose has since morphed into resolving all sorts of international conflicts, sparking concerns that the US president wants to create a rival to the UN.
Key US allies, including France and Britain, have expressed doubts.
Countries have been asked to pay $1 billion for permanent membership of the board, and the invitation for Putin, whose country invaded Ukraine in 2022, has sparked controversy.
Gaza ‘master plan’
Trump told the gathering of the global elite in the Swiss mountain resorts that the organisation would work “in conjunction” with the United Nations.
A large part of the ceremony was devoted to talking about its plans for shattered Gaza.
Gaza’s newly appointed administrator said in a video message that the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip will reopen in both directions next week.
Then Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, like the president, a former property developer, showed slides of what he billed as a “master plan” for Gaza’s reconstruction.
They included maps of new settlements and artist renderings of gleaming seafront hotels and apartments under the caption “New Gaza”.
“It could be a hope. It could be a destination,” Kushner said.
Trump told Hamas to disarm under the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire accord, or it would be the “end of them”. He added that he was ready to “talk” with regional foe Iran.
The representatives of the 19 countries on stage with Trump included two close populist allies, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Argentine President Javier Milei, and officials from a host of Middle Eastern monarchies keen to curry favour.
Trump said he expected around 50 countries to join, but the full extent of the board’s membership remains unclear.
Trump said Putin had also agreed to join, though the Russian leader said he was still studying the invitation.
Zelensky has also been invited, but has said that he could not envisage working alongside arch-foe Putin.
Trump said he was hopeful of a deal soon to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Zelensky told the WEF that documents being drafted with Washington to end the war were “nearly, nearly ready”.
Zelensky said his meeting with Trump was “positive” but conceded that dialogue with the US president was “not simple”.
