Trump’s Peace Council meets for the first time: who are the members and why is the group so controversial?

United States President Donald Trump (center) appointed former United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair (left) and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (right) as members of the executive board of the Peace Council BBC United States President Donald Trump will meet this Thursday (19), in Washington, his Peace Council for the first official meeting since the creation of the body last month. It is not yet clear how many members will be present at the meeting. So far, about 20 countries have agreed to join Trump’s initiative. The meeting will take place at the US Institute of Peace, which was renamed the “Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace” in December, after the Republican government took control of the institution and fired much of its board and staff in early 2025. Who is part of the Peace Council The initiative was initially proposed in late September 2025, as part of Trump’s proposed 20-point peace plan to end the two-year war between Israel and Hamas and oversee the reconstruction of Gaza. The idea was later endorsed by a UN Security Council resolution. However, the body’s charter does not explicitly mention Gaza or the Palestinian territories, which has raised fears that it may have a broader scope and take on functions traditionally performed by the United Nations. Trump launches ‘Peace Council’ at the World Economic Forum in Davos The initiative was formally launched four months later, on January 22, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. Under the current structure, Trump serves as chairman of the board for life, giving him broad decision-making authority. The US president has presented the council as a new international organization focused on conflict resolution. “The Peace Council will prove to be the most important international body in history, and it is an honor for me to serve as its President,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social on Sunday. Who has already agreed to join the Peace Council? Of the 60 countries invited by the White House, more than 20 agreed to participate in the Peace Council, including Israel, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt. None of the United States’ main European allies — including the United Kingdom and France — have joined the initiative, and several have expressed concern that it could overshadow the United Nations. Brazil was also invited, but President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) conditioned its participation on the inclusion of Palestinian representatives. “I told President Trump that if the Council is to take care of Gaza, Brazil has every interest in participating. Now, it is very strange that you have a Council and you don’t have a Palestinian heading that Council (…) Brazil has every interest in participating, but the Palestinians need to be at the table, otherwise it won’t be a peace commission,” said Lula in an interview with UOL on February 5. In January, Lula had criticized the proposal. During an event by the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST), in Salvador, the Brazilian president stated that Trump wanted to “own the UN”. “We are living in a very critical moment in world politics. Multilateralism is being thrown away by unilateralism. The law of the strongest is prevailing. The UN charter is being torn up”, he declared. “President Trump is making a proposal to create a new UN and that he alone is the owner of the UN,” he added. The Brazilian government has not officially commented on the matter so far. Other countries that were invited have not yet responded to the invitation. Donald Trump stated that permanent members must pay a membership fee of US$1 billion, intended for the reconstruction of Gaza. In another publication in Truth Social on Sunday, the US president said that member countries have already pledged US$5 billion for the reconstruction of the war-ravaged territory, in addition to committing to sending thousands of troops to an international stabilization and policing force for Gaza. He did not specify which countries have pledged this funding or troop deployment. The Indonesian military said on Sunday that around 8,000 troops should be ready by June for a possible deployment to Gaza as part of a humanitarian and peacekeeping mission — the first significant troop commitment secured to date. According to an official European Union document distributed to Member States and cited by the Reuters news agency, the European Commissioner for the Mediterranean, Dubravka Suica, “will participate as an observer” in the Peace Council meeting. The memo also adds that the EU police mission “will contribute to the International Stabilization Force (ISF) by training and equipping the Palestinian civil police and criminal justice institutions”, Reuters reported. How will the Peace Council work? Who is part of the Executive Peace Council? BBC In addition to the Peace Council, two subordinate executive boards were announced: the Founding Executive Board, with a high-level focus on investments and diplomacy; the Gaza Executive Board, responsible for overseeing all field work of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, a group of technocrats in charge of the temporary governance and reconstruction of the territory. The White House stated that members of these councils will work to ensure “effective governance and the provision of excellent services that promote peace, stability and prosperity for the people of Gaza.” According to the White House, Trump will chair the seven-member “Founding Executive Council” that will lead Gaza into its next phase of reconstruction. Other members include: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio; US special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff; Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law; former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. Blair’s inclusion is considered controversial because in 2003 he led the United Kingdom into the Iraq War based on claims that the Iraqi government possessed weapons of mass destruction, claims that were later shown to be false. Each member will have their own portfolio, considered “critical to the stabilization of Gaza”, according to the White House. There are no Palestinian representatives in either body. Who is on the Gaza Executive Council? BBC Can the Peace Council ‘fix’ Gaza? Reconstruction of Gaza is expected to take years and could cost more than $70 billion, according to a damage assessment carried out last year by the United Nations, the European Union and the World Bank. Around 80% of buildings in Gaza were destroyed or damaged, generating 61 million tonnes of rubble, according to UN estimates. Displaced families also face cold winter temperatures, limited shelter and food shortages. The US-brokered ceasefire on October 10 was intended to halt more than two years of fighting between Israel and Hamas. Although the most intense clashes have subsided, reports indicate that Israeli forces continued to carry out airstrikes and fire on Palestinians near areas under military control. At last month’s Peace Council signing ceremony in Davos, Switzerland, Jared Kushner — a real estate entrepreneur and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law who helped broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas — presented a “master plan” for Gaza that includes skyscrapers, new cities and a coastal tourist zone. He said construction could take two to three years and would require an investment of at least $25 billion, with humanitarian aid the immediate priority. The UN estimates that around 80% of buildings in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged REUTERS Trump reiterated that Hamas needs to disarm — a central condition of the US-brokered deal. “Very important. Hamas must fulfill its commitment to complete and immediate demilitarization,” he wrote in Truth Social. Hamas said it would only agree to disarm as part of a broader agreement establishing a Palestinian state. Israel, whose ground troops control much of Gaza, said it will only withdraw if Hamas disarms. Why is Trump’s Peace Council so controversial? The initiative has received significant criticism, ranging from concerns about its legitimacy to representation within the body. Despite Trump promoting the council as a future conflict mediator, several US allies have warned that it could weaken the United Nations and its UN Security Council — responsible for international peacekeeping and sanctions. The Trump administration has already reduced US funding for the United Nations. Earlier this year, the American president signed a memorandum withdrawing the country from 31 United Nations entities that he said were “operating against US national interests.” The European Union’s head of diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, described the Peace Council as Trump’s personal instrument, with no accountability mechanisms to the Palestinians or the UN. In a speech at the Munich Security Conference, she stated that although the Security Council passed a resolution supporting the creation of a temporary Peace Council for Gaza — which would include Palestinian participation and explicit reference to the territory — the council’s charter omitted these elements. “So I think there is a Security Council resolution, but the Peace Council doesn’t reflect it,” she said. The absence of Palestinians from executive boards is another source of controversy. “It seems like it’s basically an American council, with some international elements,” Palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti told the BBC in a recent interview, adding that Palestinians expected “much broader representation.” According to Barghouti, the fact that the role of the Palestinian administrative group approved during peace negotiations in Cairo was “not clear” would be “problematic.” Meanwhile, Gaza’s Executive Council includes an Israeli member: real estate billionaire Yakir Gabay, currently based in Cyprus. The inclusion of high-ranking politicians from Qatar and Turkey — countries critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza — also provoked criticism among Israeli politicians. Israel, in turn, stated that the composition of the executive councils “was not coordinated with Israel and is contrary to its policy”, said the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid called the move a “diplomatic failure for Israel”, while radical right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir wrote in X that the Gaza Strip did not need any “administrative committee” but should be “cleaned of Hamas terrorists”. Contributing to this report were Paula Adamo Idoeta, Sanne Peck and Andrew Webb, from BBC World Service

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