The first meeting of President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace in Washington marked a shift from ceasefire diplomacy to the far more difficult questions of reconstruction and stabilisation. Nearly fifty countries were represented. The United States announced a planned contribution of $10 billion, and roughly $7 billion was pledged by other participants, much of it from Gulf states.

Several countrie Morocco, Albania, Indonesia, Kazakhstan and Kosovo, were named as committing troops or police personnel for the proposed International Stabilisation Force. Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, signalled the largest potential contribution. Egypt and Jordan are expected to play training and support roles, given their proximity and security experience.

These announcements do not resolve Gaza’s devastation. But they move the discussion into a concrete phase: who will fund reconstruction, who will provide security, and under what political framework. That transition matters. It is here that the initiative will either gain credibility or falter.

For Pakistan, the Washington meeting clarified more than it complicated. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif used his address to state plainly that ceasefire violations by Israel must end if reconstruction is to be meaningful. He reiterated that Palestinians must exercise full control over their land and future in line with UN Security Council resolutions. He did not soften Pakistan’s position on Palestinian statehood, nor did he suggest that stabilisation could substitute for a political settlement.

On the same day in New York, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar told the UN Security Council that there can be no durable peace without justice. He reaffirmed support for Palestinian self-determination and framed Pakistan’s participation in the Board as engagement anchored in international law and the UN Charter. The sequencing was deliberate. Pakistan did not present the Board of Peace as an alternative to the United Nations. It presented it as another venue in which UN principles must be defended.

The meeting also highlighted coordination among the eight Muslim countries that have moved together on Gaza: Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, the UAE, Indonesia and Pakistan. In recent joint statements, they condemned Israeli decisions to register land in the West Bank as “state land” and expand settlements.

The absence of Palestinian representatives within the Board’s structure remains a weakness

The absence of Palestinian representatives within the Board’s structure remains a weakness

Despite recent tensions between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, often amplified on........

© The Friday Times