News Beat
Starmer snubs Trump’s signing ceremony for Gaza board of peace over Putin involvement
Sir Keir Starmer has not taken part in Donald Trump’s signing ceremony for his Gaza “board of peace” over concerns about the inclusion of Vladimir Putin, in what will be viewed as a snub to the US president.
Trump signed the document on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on Thursday at a ceremony attended by Tony Blair, who was named on the board, as well as Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and US secretary of state Marco Rubio.
The prime minister has expressed concerns about the board in recent days, with his spokesperson telling reporters that Britain was “still looking at the terms”.
Foreign secretary Yvette Cooper cited unease about the Russian president “being part of something which is talking about peace”.
Mr Putin was also not present. The Kremlin has acknowledged an invitation to the board and is “studying the details” to seek clarity of “all the nuances”, according to spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.
The board of peace was originally laid out by Mr Trump as a small group of world leaders who would oversee the reconstruction of Gaza, but has since developed into playing a broader role.
At the ceremony, Trump claimed “just about every country” wants to be a part of the newly formed board, adding that once it is completely formed: “We can do pretty much whatever we want to do.”
“When America booms, the entire world booms,” Trump told the gathering. “This board has the chance to be one of the most consequential bodies ever created and it’s my enormous honour to serve as its chairman.”
Mr Trump extended invitations to dozens of nations and suggested the board could soon mediate various international conflicts, akin to a pseudo-UN Security Council.
Around 35 countries have committed to join including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Turkey and Belarus.
Senior officials from 19 countries were introduced as founding members of the collective that Trump is set to oversee.
Countries represented on stage at the ceremony included: Bahrain, Morocco, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Hungary, Indonesia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Pakistan, Paraguay, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, UAE, Uzbekistan and Mongolia.
The event featured Ali Shaath, the head of a new, future technocratic government in Gaza, announcing that the Rafah border crossing will open in both directions next week. But there was no confirmation of that from Israel, which said only that it would consider the matter.
Norway, Sweden and France have said they will not join the board for now as tensions rise between the US and Nato over Trump’s desire to own Greenland.
Italy is also set to reject the invitation, according to national paper Corriere della Sera.
French officials stressed that while they support the Gaza peace plan, they were concerned the board could seek to replace the UN as the main venue for resolving conflicts.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, who was also invited to join, said it was hard for him to imagine being together with Russia on this or another board.
UN officials have so far dismissed concerns that Trump is trying to sidestep the organisation, saying it is unlikely that decades of multilateral peacebuilding with the participation of more than 190 member countries could be replaced.
Mr Trump insisted the board will work “in conjunction with the United Nations” and added: “I’ve always said the United Nations has got tremendous potential, has not used it, but there’s tremendous potential in the United Nations, and you have some great people at the United Nations, but so far, it hasn’t.”
Farhan Haq, UN deputy spokesperson, said: “There have been any number of organisations – regional organisations, defence alliances and others – that have coexisted with the UN over the 80 years that the UN’s been in existence.”
Trump’s push for peace also comes after he threatened military action this month against Iran as it carried out a violent crackdown against some of the largest street protests in years, killing thousands of people.
Trump, for the time being, has signaled he won’t carry out any new strikes on Iran after he said he received assurances that the Islamic government would not carry out the planned hangings of more than 800 protesters.
