Will India join Donald Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ for Gaza

The answer to India’s quandary on whether New Delhi should accept US President Donald Trump’s invitation for the ‘Board of Peace’ for Gaza does not lie in a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’. The devil, it turns out, is in the details. 

According to a report in The Hindustan Times, the proposal outlined by the Trump administration is being examined by the government. Indian authorities are looking into the matter as it involves several sensitive issues, the report said. 

India supports the two-state solution and is backing all initiatives that are aimed at achieving lasting peace, people in the know told the daily. However, the Indian side is also concerned about other sensitivities related to the plan to tackle global conflicts, which could at some point involve the Kashmir issue. 

New Delhi has also noted Trump’s repeated claims that he brokered the ceasefire between India and Pakistan, despite the Indian government reiterating multiple times that no third party was involved in the negotiations. 

TRUMP’S BOARD OF PEACE FOR GAZA

The Board of Peace, part of an international effort to govern Gaza during a transitional period following an agreement between Israel and Hamas, will initially focus on providing urgent relief for Gaza, particularly the provision of housing for displaced Palestinians. The need for effective governance during the reconstruction process has been highlighted by various stakeholders.

US President Donald Trump will chair the board, which will also feature US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, special negotiator Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, US billionaire Marc Rowan, World Bank president Ajay Banga, and Trump aide Robert Gabriel. 

The executive board of the newly proposed Board of Peace is expected to include Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, Tony Blair, Marc Rowan, Nickolay Mladenov, Sigrid Kaag, Hakan Fidan, Ali Al-Thawadi, General Hassan Rashad, Reem Al-Hashimy, and Yakir Gabay. 

Invitations to join the Board of Peace have been sent to a number of international leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, Argentine President Javier Milei, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides, and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Additional invited leaders are Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Jordanian King Abdullah II, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Paraguayan President Santiago Pena, Romanian President Nicusor Dan, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The transitional board is expected to include not only governmental officials but also representatives from the private sector and non-governmental organisations.