Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted an invitation to join US President Donald Trump's Board of Peace. The Israeli leader's office announced on social media on Wednesday that Netanyahu is to join the initiative, despite the International Criminal Court (ICC) having issued a warrant for his arrest for war crimes in Gaza. The Board of Peace was unveiled as part of phase two of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas to end Israel's genocidal war on Gaza and oversee reconstruction of the enclave. But its proposed charter does not mention the Palestinian territory and appears to be designed to supplant functions of the UN. The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have also agreed to join, as have Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Morocco and Vietnam. Many others have expressed reservations. It is not clear how many countries have been invited to join Trump's new body -Canada, Russia, Turkey and the UK are among them, but have not yet publicly responded. Norway has said it will not join because the current proposal "raises a number of questions", while France and Sweden have indicated they will do the same. China has confirmed receiving an invitation but has yet to announce whether it plans to accept. Italy will not take part either, the Corriere della Sera newspaper reported, noting that joining would violate the country's constitution, which stipulates that it may only join international organisations that ensure "peace and justice among nations ... on equal terms with other states". According to a copy of the charter leaked to the media, member states will be given a renewable three-year term, but they can secure a permanent place if they contribute $1bn (£740m) of funding to the board. The document says the Board of Peace will be "an international organisation that seeks to promote stability, restore dependable and lawful governance, and secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict". It will "undertake such peace-building functions in accordance with international law", it adds. Trump will be the chairman but also "separately serve" as representative of the US. A US official has said the chairmanship can be held by Trump "until he resigns it", but that a future US president may choose a new representative. As chairman, he will have "exclusive authority to create, modify or dissolve subsidiary entities as necessary or appropriate to fulfil the Board of Peace's mission", according to the document. He will also select "leaders of global stature" to serve two-year terms on an Executive Board that will help deliver the mission of the Board of Peace, US officials say. Last Friday, the White House named the seven members of the founding Executive Board. They included US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner as well as former British prime minister Tony Blair. Trump also named Nickolay Mladenov, a Bulgarian politician and former UN Middle East envoy, as the Board of Peace's representative on the ground in Gaza during phase two of Trump's peace plan, which should see the reconstruction and demilitarisation of the territory, including the disarmament of Hamas, as well as a full withdrawal of Israeli forces. Mladenov will act as a link with a Palestinian technocratic government which will "oversee the restoration of core public services, the rebuilding of civil institutions, and the stabilisation of daily life". A separate Gaza Executive Board will help support the technocratic government, according to the White House. Witkoff, Kushner, Blair, Rowan, Mladenov will serve on it with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad, Qatari strategic affairs minister Ali al-Thawadi, UAE minister of state for international co-operation Reem al-Hashimy, billionaire Israeli real estate developer Yakir Gabay, and Sigrid Kaag, a Dutch politician and UN special co-ordinator for the Middle East peace process. On Saturday, Netanyahu's office said the Gaza Executive Board's composition "was not co-ordinated with Israel and runs contrary to its policy". Israeli media said the decision to include representatives of Turkey and Qatar, which both helped broker the ceasefire that took effect in October, along with Egypt and the US, had happened "over Israel's head". — Agencies
