Answer should be ‘no, thank you’: Kanwal Sibal on US’ invitation to India to join its ‘Board of Peace’ for Gaza

The Gaza issue is a complex Arab issue, and India should stay out of it, said former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal after the US invited India to be part of its ‘Board of Peace’ set up for the restoration, relief and governance of Gaza. India should simply say “no, thank you”, said Sibal. 

“If this report is correct, the answer has to be ‘No Thank you’. India should not be part of an arrangement that is arbitrarily set up, without UN approval, full of potential difficulties, with business interests of private parties built into the structure. Let the Arab countries principally handle this highly complex Arab issue,” he said.

US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor confirmed that he conveyed the invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. As per media reports, permanent membership of the board can be acquired with a $1 billion contribution, while shorter, three-year appointments do not need financial inputs.

WHO CONSTITUTES THE BOARD OF PEACE?

US President Donald Trump will chair the board, along with a panel of individuals including:

• US Secretary of State Marco Rubio
• Trump's special negotiator Steve Witkoff 
• Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner 
• Former UK prime minister Tony Blair, 
• US billionaire Marc Rowan
• World Bank president Ajay Banga
• Trump aide Robert Gabriel

Meanwhile the executive board would include Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, Tony Blair, Marc Rowan, Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov, UN humanitarian coordinator for Gaza Sigrid Kaag, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Qatari diplomat Ali Al-Thawadi, Director of Egypt's intelligence agency General Hassan Rashad, Emirati minister Reem Al-Hashimy, and Israeli billionaire Yakir Gabay. 

WHO HAS BEEN INVITED TO JOIN THE BOARD OF PEACE?

Apart from PM Modi, the following leaders have been invited to join the board:

• 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
• Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi
• 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
• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan