By Li Zixin
The Bloomberg recently disclosed a proposed draft charter for the Gaza "Board of Peace", triggering a major international uproar. This so-called "Board of Peace", based on the US-proposed "20-point plan", is intended to serve as a guiding body for Gaza's reconstruction and post-war governance. According to the draft charter, the Board would be chaired by US President Donald Trump. The Chair would have the power to invite and remove members, as well as the authority to grant final approval to all resolutions. Under the US vision, the Board's permanent member seats have been openly priced at "$1 billion" each. This act of privatizing international affairs and commodifying regional peace not only disregards the will of the Palestinian people but also poses a significant challenge to the existing international governance system and norms of conduct.
This round of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has now lasted nearly 30 months, and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues to worsen. After the US proposed the "20-point plan" and a three-stage ceasefire framework last year, Israel and Hamas, due to profound differences in their positions, failed to make tangible progress even in the first phase of a ceasefire. Trump views a ceasefire in Gaza as a major diplomatic achievement and is therefore eager to push the process forward. The Gaza "Board of Peace," the newly established Palestinian technocratic committee, and the Gaza "International Stabilization Force" are the three pillars of the post-war governance framework proposed by the US, with the Gaza "Board of Peace" serving as the actual leader. The White House's push to form a "Board of Peace" at this time has the primary goal of demonstrating the influence of the US, especially Trump himself, on Gaza.
However, an institution that should bear such a crucial responsibility for peace in Gaza has instead become a typical product of "transactional diplomacy". Judging from the membership list of the Board's Executive Board released by the White House, it resembles more a "private board of directors" made up of Western elites and wealthy backers than a representative international mediation body. The proposed list is packed with US political figures and their close associates, yet conspicuously lacks the most critical stakeholder of all—the Palestinians. This "absence" has drawn widespread criticism from the international community, with some even suggesting that it reveals the organization's colonial nature, namely, its attempt to privately outline Gaza's future without the consent of the Palestinian people.
What is even more shocking is the White House's explicit proposal to sell "permanent seats" for $1 billion each. This move reduces the solemn cause of international peace to a money game. By placing a clear price tag on participation, the US is effectively seeking a form of geopolitical "outsourcing". On the one hand, it raises enormous sums to ease its foreign aid burden; on the other hand, it maintains firm control over the Board's decision-making through the Chair's veto power. Gaza's future should not be a commodity for sale, and Gaza, dominated by capital and hegemonic will, will find it difficult to achieve true peace.
Based on the proposed charter released so far, this mechanism is unlikely to resolve the current crisis and may instead further poison the political soil of the Middle East issue. The US "Gaza peace plan" not only excludes the Palestinian national authority from Gaza's political role, but also places a so-called "Board of Peace" controlled by external forces above the so-called Palestinian technocratic committee. In essence, it replaces sovereign governance with external intervention, thereby eroding the political foundation of the "two-state solution". The US is using this to deprive Palestinians of their fundamental right as a state to handle their own affairs, effectively further dividing the Gaza Strip from the West Bank and making just and lasting peace even more elusive.
This move will undoubtedly have a severe impact on the global governance system. The current Gaza crisis is a brutal demonstration of the disorderly state of "Might makes right". If seats for peace can be bought, and major powers can arbitrarily establish new frameworks outside the existing international system, then the fairness of the post-war international order will be seriously weakened. This "members' club" governance model reduces international law to a private contract between major powers, causing the world to revert to the law of the jungle where the strong prey on the weak.
(The author is a scholar at the China Institute of International Studies.)
Editor's note: Originally published on huanqiu.com, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.