By Mohamad Hammoud
Trump’s elite club turns Gaza into a playground for land grabs.
The Trump administration’s newly unveiled “Board of Peace” is being marketed as a diplomatic breakthrough. Still, critics argue it serves as a sophisticated mechanism for strong countries to dominate the weak. According to Foreign Policy, analyst Dana El Kurd warns that the body will effectively legitimize land grabs and provide a veneer of international approval for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza. This move reflects a broader shift toward a transactional global order that prioritizes elite interests over humanitarian law.
A Private Club for Global Elites
The structure of the Board of Peace appears designed to bypass traditional international institutions and consolidate authority under a single executive figure. As The Guardian reported, Donald Trump has positioned himself as the permanent chairman of a body that operates in parallel to the United Nations, granting him the power to issue unilateral resolutions. This departure from democratic norms has sparked significant backlash from observers who view the body as a direct rival to existing multilateral frameworks. According to the European Council on Foreign Relations, the board represents a “top-down project” to assert control over global affairs through a personal vehicle for a Trumpist world order.
Evidence of the board's transactional nature is found in the entry requirements for permanent status, which favor wealth over diplomatic merit. The Guardian revealed that nations seeking a permanent seat must pay a $1 billion fee, effectively turning international diplomacy into a pay-to-play scheme for the global elite. This high barrier to entry ensures that only the most powerful states—or those willing to compromise their sovereignty for access—can influence the board’s decisions. According to Mondoweiss, human rights lawyer Craig Mokhiber described the board’s charter as an “authoritarian dream” that replaces the UN with an entirely unaccountable entity.
Legitimizing the Dispossession of Gaza
The primary focus of the board’s early operations is the administration of a postwar Gaza Strip, where critics say it will facilitate the permanent displacement of the local population. According to Al Jazeera, Jared Kushner recently unveiled a $30 billion development plan in Davos that envisions a skyscraper-crammed “New Gaza” built on the ruins of the enclave. This vision involves the wholesale bulldozing of the Strip to create a newly engineered society and economy under the board's supervision. Because no Palestinians were consulted on these plans, the project serves to deepen territorial fragmentation while ignoring the sovereignty of the people living there.
Furthermore, the board’s operational structure reinforces the military dominance of “Israel” over vulnerable civilians. According to the White House, the administration has appointed US Major General Jasper Jeffers to lead an “International Stabilization Force” tasked with comprehensive demilitarization. While the administration claims these steps are necessary for stability, the plan essentially creates “humanitarian bubbles” where residents are subject to relentless biometric checks and external vetting. As reported by the European Council on Foreign Relations, this approach revives plans for fragmented control zones that allow for the continued expansion of “Israel” into Palestinian territory.
The Erosion of International Law
By creating a parallel structure to the United Nations, the Trump administration is effectively dismantling the post-war rules-based order in favor of raw power and impunity. According to Foreign Policy, the board’s charter omits specific references to Gaza, suggesting its mandate is a sweeping global mechanism that can be applied to any conflict. This expansion of power allows the board to operate without the constraints of international law or the threat of ICC warrants, which currently target leaders like Benjamin Netanyahu. According to the European Council on Foreign Relations, the board's logo—a gold-burnished western hemisphere flanked by olive branches—is a clear symbol of “America-First” dominance.
The long-term implications of this shift suggest a future where the sovereignty of smaller states is secondary to the strategic and financial interests of the board’s members. According to The Guardian, the current arrangement in Gaza is being viewed by diplomats as an experiment in a new form of global governance that rewards elite impunity and intelligence-led control. As the board begins to implement its vision, the traditional protections offered by international resolutions appear increasingly irrelevant. This new era of diplomacy favors those who can pay the entry fee, leaving the weak to face the consequences of a world governed by a private club.
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