Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has announced that his country will decline Donald Trump’s invitation to join the planned "Board of Peace", citing its divergence from international law and failure to include the Palestinian Authority, 24NewsHD TV reported on Saturday.
After a European Union summit in Brussels, while telling reporters, he said, “We appreciate the invitation, but we do not accept it.
The board is outside the UN’s remit and does not include the Palestinian Authority.
The future of Gaza and the West Bank must be decided by the Palestinians themselves.”
The board, created under US President Donald Trump, already includes Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Indonesia, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and the United Arab Emirates, with additional participation from Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Hungary, Kosovo, Morocco, and Vietnam.
Meanwhile, Trump rescinded Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s invitation to the board, via a Truth Social statement addressed directly to Carney on Thursday.
“The Board of Peace is withdrawing its invitation to you regarding Canada’s joining, what will be, the most prestigious Board of Leaders ever assembled, at any time,” Trump posted.
The Canadian government had previously indicated it would be joining the board.
While the Trump administration did not give an explicit reason for the rescission, the announcement came after Carney delivered a critique of US policy and hegemony at the World Economic Forum at Davos on Tuesday.
The controversial Board of Peace initiative is meant to address the need for reconstruction and governance in Gaza, following two years of Israel’s genocidal war.
It describes itself as “an international organisation that seeks to promote stability, restore dependable and lawful governance, and secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict”.
The vague scope of the board’s mandate has raised concerns that Trump is attempting to establish a body that has the potential to undermine the United Nations.
The board’s founding executive board includes Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, former UK prime minister Tony Blair, and the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
As of Thursday, a number of Gulf countries - including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar - as well as Egypt, Turkey, and Jordan, were among the states that had agreed to join Trump’s board, the Associated Press reported.
Israel has also confirmed its participation in the board.
While the board seeks to appoint a 15-person Palestinian technocratic committee to oversee transition in Gaza, there are no Palestinians on the board itself.
On Thursday, Jared Kushner unveiled plans for a “free-market Gaza” in Davos, announcing a “master plan” with a six-phase development timeline.
Trump’s Board of Peace is meant to implement this plan, although its charter makes no mention of Gaza in its text.
More than 71,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 2023.