THE first meeting of the so-called Board of Peace (BoP) takes place in the US this coming Thursday, where some details are likely to emerge of President Donald Trump’s plan to address the core issues of funding the rebuilding of Gaza, the makeup of the international stabilisation force (ISF) and the possible disarming of Hamas.

Despite Western lamentation about the collapse of the rules-based order (it never represented rules or order to the majority of the Global South which was at the receiving end), the current structure does acquire its legitimacy via UN approval — at least for now, as sceptics see the BoP formation as Trump’s move to replace the UN with an entity he can control. Media reports in the West suggest that a fair amount of homework has already gone into giving concrete shape to the plan whose outlines will become clear on Thursday when many of the aspects covering the issues being mentioned here are likely to be made public.

Gaza’s rebuilding and rehabilitation will require tens of billions of dollars over a sustained period of time and it is yet to be seen where that level of funding will be coming from. Will the effort be mainly funded by the resource-rich Gulf Arab states or will global private investors also pledge funds for a share in Trump’s ‘Gaza Riviera’ pie?

Linked to the funding issue will obviously be the future of the Gaza Palestinians in the Strip because there are legitimate fears they might be pushed back into narrow ghettos between the plush high-rise waterfront real........

© Dawn