Trump's new 'Peace Council' invites Putin and other controversial billionaires to carve up Gaza's ruins
By ljdevon // 2026-01-21
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U.S. President Donald Trump is assembling a so-called "board of peace" to oversee the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip. This initiative, revealed to be a costly, expansive international body, has extended an invitation to Russian President Vladimir Putin, a leader currently waging a brutal war in Ukraine. The council, packed with billionaires and allied world leaders, is positioned as a humanitarian effort but will really function as a transactional boardroom for deciding the fate of a devastated territory, raising alarming questions about profiteering and the ethnic cleansing of a land inhabited primarily by 2.3 million Palestinian refugees. This new "Peace Council" represents a grotesque form of doublespeak, proposing to build a future for Gaza on the graves of thousands of innocents recently killed by U.S.-funded operations that saw Israeli forces indiscriminately killing Palestinians and Hamas using the Palestinians as human shields in a war that continues to dehumanize people and leave children starving and dying from lack of medical care. In other words, the architects of destruction in the Gaza Strip are now becoming the overseers of reconstruction, and the people who were brutalized will have little to no say in the direction going forward. Key points:
  • Former President Donald Trump has proposed an international "board of peace" to manage Gaza's post-war governance and reconstruction, inviting controversial figures like Vladimir Putin.
  • The council's charter reveals ambitions far beyond Gaza, aiming to become a rival to UN mechanisms, with permanent membership requiring a $1 billion payment.
  • Critics argue the plan sidelines Palestinian self-determination, placing the territory under a U.S.-led trusteeship while the very nations that supplied the weapons for its demolition now stand to profit from its rebuilding.
  • The initiative has drawn cautious or critical responses from several nations, with France outright rejecting it, while allies like Hungary and Vietnam have accepted.
  • Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu is already disconcerted that certain nations are being included in the peace talks, as he believes they are involved in financing Hamas.

A pay-to-play scheme of billionaires and world leaders

The framework of Trump's board reveals its true nature. According to draft documents, while countries can join, their participation is capped at three years unless they pay more than $1 billion in cash within the first year to become a permanent member. This structure, echoing the membership models of elite private clubs, transforms international diplomacy and conflict resolution into a pay-to-play scheme. The "founding executive board" includes figures like Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and property developer Steve Witkoff, alongside former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. This composition points to a council less concerned with restorative justice and more with financial and political deal-making, determining who owns and what gets built atop the rubble of homes, hospitals, and schools. The invitation to Putin, whose forces are accused of widespread atrocities in Ukraine, strips the council of any moral credibility, signaling that membership is based on power and alignment with Trump's interests, not on a commitment to peace.

Building over the graves with a multi-billion dollar grift

This council's formation follows a horrific period where U.S. political leadership, under both Biden and Trump, facilitated a flood of weaponry to Israel, enabling what observers and journalists have described as genocidal actions against the Palestinian population in Gaza. Now, the same sphere of influence proposes to manage the aftermath. This is not reconstruction; it is a grift. It allows billionaire developers and compliant world leaders to use Gaza as a real estate toy, furthering a long-term project of ethnic cleansing by deciding the territory's future without the meaningful consent of its people. The plan envisions a "Palestinian technocratic administration" during a transitional period, but it would operate under the thumb of this international board, effectively placing Gaza under a form of trusteeship that denies true sovereignty. The tragic irony is stark: children who survived bombardment may find their homeland reshaped by the very powers that funded their suffering. The path forward for Gaza must be led by justice and self-determination, not by a council of billionaires and strongmen voting over a map of the ruins. True peace cannot be built on a foundation of corpses, rewritten history, and piles of cash. Sources include: RT.com TheGuardian.com NPR.com
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