In the corridors of Davos, Donald Trump unveiled the “Board of Peace” for the reconstruction of Gaza. The concept is straightforward: gather stakeholders around a table, modeled not on a diplomatic summit, but on a corporate board of directors. There are no binding international treaties in the classical sense. While there is a vague UN framework offering political encouragement, the operational architecture exists entirely outside traditional multilateral mechanisms. And at the head of this “international organization”: him.
The center of gravity is undoubtedly Trump, serving as Chairman. His role is both diplomatic and executive, acting as the political green light while reducing Congress and the UN to mere background noise—factors of context, not decision. Beside him sits his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, acting as broker. Kushner knows Mohammed bin Salman and Israeli leaders on a first-name basis, serving as the technical bridge between Arab capital and the Israeli defense universe. The expert on physical reconstruction is played by Steve Witkoff, a New York real estate magnate who has already demonstrated substantial incompetence in handling the Ukraine dossier. The institutional fig leaf is Tony Blair, the former British PM famous for turning post-Iraq geopolitics into a lucrative global consulting business for regimes seeking legitimacy. Finally, the banker: Ajay Banga of the World Bank. His presence is the ultimate seal of approval; if he is there, the financial system is on board. It signals that, in the final instance, the operation has political cover from Washington.
To sit at this table, the buy-in is one billion dollars. Alternatively, one can be invited by the host, Mr. Trump, and stay for free for three years. This isn’t a donation; it’s a membership fee. Reconstruction is being managed like an exclusive Country Club. No moralizing small states, no NGOs, no European bureaucrats demanding adherence to procedure. Those who pay the billion buy the right to early access, the power to strip UN resolutions of any binding capacity, and the chance to get their hands on the map before anyone else. In essence, they aren’t funding reconstruction; they are purchasing equity in sovereignty over a territory.
The incredible part is that there is already a line out the door. The list of attendees is a geopolitical short-circuit that only a purely transactional approach could generate. The first to cut a check was the bloc comprising Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar. They are paying to clean up the chaos on their borders without having to dirty their hands with politics. Egypt’s Al-Sisi and Jordan followed immediately after, forced by geography and public debt to sit where their fate is decided. They are joined by Turkey, which has set aside public invective to secure a slice of the construction pie. According to lists circulating in Davos and memberships currently being formalized, critical mass is being provided by nations ranging from Morocco to Indonesia, reaching as far as Central Asian republics like Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
On one side sits Shehbaz Sharif’s Pakistan: a nuclear Islamic power that does not recognize Israel but is in desperate need of international credit and American protection. On the other sits Israel itself, with Netanyahu agreeing to have Gaza rebuilt by foreign powers, including the very Qatar that has hosted Hamas leadership for years. Closing the circle is the “Loyalist Front,” represented by Javier Milei’s Argentina and Viktor Orbán’s Hungary. They aren’t there for Gaza. They are there for Trump. They paid the ticket price to sit at the right hand of the father.
The obligatory counter-argument is that the UN and its agencies have repeatedly demonstrated their limits, failing on multiple fronts. Some imagine that the cynicism of economic calculation and direct action by a tight circle of decision-makers could, paradoxically, succeed where classic diplomacy has stalled.
But there is no way around it: the big picture remains chilling. Seeing the signatures of Orbán, Bin Salman, Al-Sisi, and Turkish delegates on the same document is a tragic portrait of the new global power structure. And knowing that Trump reserved an invitation for Vladimir Putin only clarifies the scene further. On a diplomatic level, we are witnessing the creation of a private club—international, yes, but totally devoid of the Rule of Law. In this sense, the absence of the European Union, Canada, Japan, and other Western nations is welcome. Refusing to sit at that table is a statement of principle: the creatures of Trumpism must not be normalized.