GROUP CONDEMNS TRUMP’S ‘BOARD OF PEACE’, CITES LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 28 (Bernama) -- A group of political leaders, activists and academics today condemned United States President Donald Trump’s move to establish a so-called “Board of Peace”, describing the board as what they said would undermine international law and Palestinian rights under the guise of peace and development.

In a joint statement, the group said that by appointing himself chairman for life and giving himself the power to select his own successor, Trump had created a self-perpetuating body lacking a democratic mandate, legal accountability, and international legitimacy.

“We categorically reject Trump’s Board of Peace as illegitimate, unlawful and dangerous. The international community must refuse to participate in schemes that disguise dispossession as development and exploitation as peace. Anything less is complicity,” the statement said.

“The central objective of the Board of Peace is to advance Trump’s openly stated ambition to transform Gaza into a high‑tech luxury destination - the so‑called ‘Gaza Riviera’. This framing reduces the reconstruction of a devastated territory with a right to Palestine statehood to a real‑estate transaction,” the statement said.

The group said the so-called “Board of Peace” treated land as an asset to be monetised and people as variables to be managed, while Palestinian rights, consent and sovereignty were excluded entirely from the equation.

The statement said the board was conceived and announced without the presence or consent of Palestinian political representatives, civil society or affected communities, which they said rendered it invalid under international norms governing self-determination and participatory governance.

The group also criticised reported support for the so‑called initiative by certain members of the United Nations Security Council, describing it as a failure of legal responsibility and stressing that no political body can legitimise land acquisition by force or collective punishment.

They said the initiative failed to address Gaza’s immediate humanitarian crisis, including shortages of food, medicine, clean water and access to education, while prioritising luxury infrastructure and speculative investment.

“Peace cannot be imposed through ownership structures, enforced silence or economic dependency. It cannot be chaired for life, inherited by appointment or traded for market access. Genuine peace requires justice, accountability and the full recognition of Palestinian rights under international law,” the statement said.

Apart from Nurul Izzah Anwar, who is the executive chairperson of Polity and honorary adviser to Malaysian Humanitarian Aid and Relief (MAHAR), the statement was also signed by ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) co-chair Charles Santiago, Third World Network executive director Chee Yoke Ling, Prof Dr Mohd Afandi Salleh of Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, MAHAR president Jismi Johari, Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) president R. Meenakshi Raman and Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) president Mohideen Abdul Kader.

The media reported that Trump’s government has asked countries to pay US$1 billion for a permanent spot on his “Board of Peace” aimed at resolving conflicts, according to its charter seen by AFP.

The board was originally conceived to oversee the rebuilding of war-torn Gaza, but the charter does not appear to limit its role to the occupied Palestinian territory.

-- BERNAMA

VR VSS RAG