Confiscated peace, denied sovereignty: Muslim states join Trump’s Peace Council

Eight Muslim countries – including Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan – have announced their integration into the “Board of Peace”, a body led by the American president Donald Trump and supposed to supervise the post-war period in Gaza. Presented as a stabilization tool, this controversial structure, with a vague UN mandate and chaired for life by Trump, raises serious questions. By agreeing to sit there, these States are de facto ratifying the political supervision of Gaza, in defiance of Palestinian sovereignty and the central role of the United Nations. A decision which further weakens the credibility of the Muslim world in the face of the Palestinian tragedy.

Behind the reassuring title of “Board of Peace” lies a deeply problematic initiative. Imagined and directed by Donald Trumpthis council claims to support the end of the war in Gaza, while bypassing classic multilateral mechanisms and marginalizing the Palestinian voice itself.

A peace under American supervision

Equipped with a mandate validated by the United Nations Security Councilthe Board of Peace is presented as a transitional administration responsible for the reconstruction and governance of Gaza. But in reality, it is a body dominated by Washington, chaired for life by Trump and financed by an exorbitant entry fee of one billion dollars per member state. An architecture that looks less like a tool of peace than an instrument of political and economic control.

The fact that countries like Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan, Qatar and Indonesia have agreed to participate raises a central question: how can we claim to defend the Palestinians’ right to self-determination while validating a structure that places them under foreign supervision? By joining this council, these states are giving political support to an initiative that addresses the root causes of the conflict: occupation, colonization and Israeli impunity.

Worse still, this approach comes after months of massacres in Gaza, where the civilian population has paid the high price for the war waged by Israel against Hamas. Joining the Board of Peace without demanding clear guarantees of justice, accountability and an end to the occupation amounts to normalizing the unacceptable.

A dangerous marginalization of the UN

Several Western diplomats, as well as leaders such as the Slovenian Prime Minister, have warned of the risk of seeing this council weaken the international order based on the United Nations Charter. Trump himself makes no secret of it: the Board of Peace is seen as an alternative to a UN considered too restrictive. By joining in, Muslim states are participating in a dangerous precedent, which could tomorrow be turned against other oppressed peoples.

Faced with the Palestinian tragedy, the Muslim world had the opportunity to speak with a united, firm and independent voice, based on international law and justice. By agreeing to sit around a table dominated by Trump – alongside leaders as controversial as Vladimir Putin – these countries give the image of a submissive diplomacy, more concerned with preserving its alliances than actually defending Gaza.

Peace cannot be decreed from Washington nor entrusted to a closed and paid council. It can only emerge from respect for the Palestinian people, their sovereignty and their fundamental rights. Everything else is just another political window dressing on the still smoking ruins of Gaza.