Montecruz Foto
War is peace, colonialism is progress and genocide is prosperity. This is the inverted world of Trump’s so-called ‘Board of Peace’ due to be formally established with a signed charter in Davos on Thursday.
The Board was initially a provision of Trump’s 20-point plan for a ceasefire in Gaza, to oversee the reconstruction and administration of the Palestinian territory. It has begun with the appointment of a new ‘technocratic’ Palestinian National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, and this will be overseen by the ‘Executive Board’ of the Board of Peace.
So many boards, but for peace, it’s back to the drawing board.
If there were still any doubts about this, they have been dispelled by the admission of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the Board. Since the ceasefire was agreed, Netanyahu has violated it every single day, killing over 460 Palestinians. The people of Gaza have been forced to live in unimaginable conditions without food and shelter in the middle of harsh winter conditions because Israel continues to restrict the aid it agreed it would let in as part of the ceasefire agreement.
Currently, Israel controls more than 50% of Gaza and BBC Verify found that rather than withdrawing, as agreed in the ceasefire, Israel recently moved the yellow line deeper into Gaza. At the same time, Israel has begun construction on the E1 settlement which will split the West Bank in two, ramped up house demolitions and settler attacks on Palestinians, and this week demolished the UNRWA headquarters in East Jerusalem.
In a basic, general sense, it defies logic to have one party of a conflict involved in what is supposed to be a neutral body aimed at resolving the conflict. More specifically, how can the perpetrator of genocide against the Palestinians and the total destruction of Gaza, and who is wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court be part of it?
Some clues can be found in the list of other members of the Executive Board. One is US Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Marco Rubio. Rubio was involved in the formulation of last year’s National Security Strategy, dubbed the ‘Donroe Doctrine’, championing the ‘America-First’ brand of imperialism. He subsequently played a central role in Trump’s illegal attack on Venezuela and kidnapping of its president, and is lead hawk in the push for US military intervention in Cuba.
Then we have American billionaire Marc Rowan, CEO of Apollo Global Management. Alongside being in business with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner (also on the Board), the company’s long list of shady business includes the 2016 acquisition of the private mercenary group Constellis – the reincarnation of Blackwater, which was part of US operations during its invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq and is implicated in war crimes.
Then we have the disgraced former UK prime minister and war criminal-in-chief Tony Blair. Because of his ‘success’ in establishing democracy and rebuilding Iraq, and all that he achieved as the head of the Quartet for the Middle East, Blair is back to reclaim his role as the embodiment of Death.
With a roster like this, it should be apparent that the role of the Board is not to bring peace and justice to the Palestinian people, but to continue Israel’s ethnic cleansing plans in a way that is lucrative to western capital.
It has become clear that the scope of the Board of Peace goes far beyond Gaza – in fact its 11-page charter makes no mention of Gaza at all. Instead, the Board appears to be the institutionalisation of Trump’s drastic realignment of the international order.
Of the 50 countries whose leaders have been invited to join the body, some 25 have agreed to join. Many are hesitant, because Trump obviously envisions the Board to be a new arbiter of international law that can undermine and potentially replace the United Nations. A body in which he is the Chairman with veto powers and overall control.
The UN has long been weighted towards and led by the interests of the US and its allies, but this is part of cementing the new world order Trump is spearheading. A world order that has dropped the pretence of being based on rules, rights and mutual respect and which is openly governed by might. Trump has threatened France with 200% tariffs if it sticks with its decision not to join the Board.
The response of European leaders to these changing dynamics is to make the case for greater rearmament, conscription and spending endless billions on preparation for war. We urgently need to strengthen anti-war organisation across the country and the world to stop the drive to war. We also need to mobilise in our biggest numbers for Palestine on 31 January and beyond as the board of colonial plunder prepares to bring more violence and dispossession.