{"id":322142,"date":"2026-01-25T09:38:50","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T09:38:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=322142"},"modified":"2026-01-26T09:07:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T09:07:18","slug":"jonathan-cook-trumps-board-of-peace-is-the-nail-in-gazas-coffin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=322142","title":{"rendered":"Jonathan Cook – Trump\u2019s ‘Board of Peace’ is the nail in Gaza\u2019s coffin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jonathan Cook \u2013 Middle East Eye Jan 23, 2026<\/strong><\/h1>\n

US President Donald Trump has declared the three-month “ceasefire” in Gaza a great success, and now wants to move on to phase two<\/a> of his so-called “peace plan”.<\/p>\n

What does success look like? Israeli<\/a> soldiers have killed <\/a>more than 460\u00a0Palestinians<\/a> since October, including at least 100 children.<\/p>\n

Israel has levelled another 2,500 buildings<\/a>, the last of the few that were still standing.<\/p>\n

And amid a continuing humanitarian catastrophe engineered by Israel through its blockade of food, water, medicines and shelter, at least eight babies <\/a>are known to have frozen to death as winter temperatures plummet.<\/p>\n

Marking the transition to the new phase, Trump announced <\/a>last Friday a “Board of Peace” to determine the enclave\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

“Peace” here is being used in exactly the same Orwellian sense as “ceasefire”. This is not about ending Gaza\u2019s suffering. It is about creating Big Brother-style narrative control, selling as “peace” the final eradication of Palestinian life in Gaza.<\/p>\n

The narrative spin is that, once Hamas is disarmed, the board will take on the job of Gaza\u2019s reconstruction.<\/p>\n

The implicit assumption is that life will gradually return to normal for the survivors of the two-year genocide Israel has carried out – though no western leader is acknowledging it as a genocide, or cares to find out how many Palestinians have actually been killed in the onslaught.<\/p>\n

But, as we shall see, peace is definitely not what the board is aiming to achieve. This is a cynical exercise in smoke and mirrors.<\/p>\n

The term “board” hints not only at Trump\u2019s preference for the language of business over politics. It alludes too to the business opportunities he intends to make from Gaza\u2019s “transformation”.<\/p>\n

His plan is to strip the United Nations – and thereby the international community – of any oversight of Gaza\u2019s fate.<\/p>\n

We are back to the time of viceroys. Colonialism is again out and proud.<\/p>\n

Lab rats<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Trump\u2019s “Board of Peace” has much grander ambitions than simply managing Gaza\u2019s takeover. In fact, the enclave and its future is not even mentioned<\/a> in the board\u2019s so-called “charter” <\/a>sent out to national capitals.<\/p>\n

In a leaked invitation to the president of Argentina, Trump referred <\/a>to the board as a “bold new approach to resolving global conflicts”.<\/p>\n

The charter says it will be “results-orientated”<\/a> and have the “the courage to depart from approaches and institutions that have too often failed”.<\/p>\n

Some of us have long warned that Israel and the US view the Palestinians as lab rats<\/a>, both for testing weapons and surveillance technologies and for changing the norms developed after the Second World War to safeguard against the return of fascist, militaristic and expansionist ideologies.<\/p>\n

The critical legal and humanitarian architecture put in place in the post-war era included the UN and its various institutions, including the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC).<\/p>\n

Israel and the US stress-tested this system to destruction from the very start of the two-year genocide in Gaza<\/a>, as Israel carpet-bombed the enclave\u2019s homes, schools, hospitals, government buildings and bakeries.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s second presidency has pushed this agenda into overdrive.<\/p>\n

‘War is peace’<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Only this month the White House announced<\/a> that the US was pulling out of 66 global organisations and treaties \u2013 some half of them affiliated with the UN.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the judges and prosecutors of the ICC have been under draconian US sanctions<\/a> for issuing an arrest warrant<\/a> for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defence minister Yoav Gallant. The ICJ, which is investigating Israel<\/a> for genocide, appears to have been cowed into silence.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s kidnapping <\/a>of Venezuela\u2019s President Nicolas Maduro and his imminent seizure of Greenland are evidence enough that the already dysfunctional, international “rules-based order” is now in tatters. Both the UN and Nato, the West\u2019s so-called “defence” alliance, are on the ropes.<\/p>\n

The US president hopes his “Board of Peace” will deliver the knockout blow, supplanting the UN and the system of international law it is there to uphold.<\/p>\n

The reconstruction of Gaza may be its first task, but Trump has much larger aspirations.<\/p>\n

The board stands at the heart of a new world order being shaped in Trump\u2019s image. Billionaires and their hangers-on will openly decide the fate of weak nations, based on the power elite\u2019s naked, predatory instincts to make money.<\/p>\n

In a petulant letter sent to Norway\u2019s prime minister at the weekend, Trump advised<\/a> that, after being passed over for the Nobel peace prize: “I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace.”\u00a0What in that case, one might wonder, is the point of a “Board of Peace”?<\/p>\n

The answer is that Orwell\u2019s moment is truly upon us: “War is peace.”<\/p>\n

Finishing the job<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Trump, of course, has sat himself atop this new imperial business venture, an updated East India Company <\/a>– the gargantuan, militarised corporation licensed by England\u2019s Queen Elizabeth I that went on to pillage much of the globe for more than two centuries, spreading death and misery in its wake.<\/p>\n

As chairman, Trump hand-picks the other members – he is reported to have sent out invitations to some 60 <\/a>national leaders. He can terminate their participation whenever he sees fit. He decides when the board sits and what it discusses. He alone has a veto.<\/p>\n

His term as chair, it seems, may extend even beyond his time as US president.<\/p>\n

Members are granted a three-year term. A permanent seat at Trump\u2019s new alternative to the UN Security Council can be bought for $1bn in “cash funds”.<\/p>\n

Hungary\u2019s far-right leader Viktor Orban was among the first <\/a>out of the blocks. He was joined <\/a>by Netanyahu on Wednesday. Other early participants<\/a> include the United Arab Emirates<\/a>, Vietnam, Uzbekistan<\/a>, Kazakhstan, Morocco<\/a>, Belarus and Argentina.<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s Vladimir Putin is reported <\/a>to be considering a place at the top table.<\/p>\n

The significance of this is not lost on the diplomatic community. One told <\/a>Reuters: “It’s a ‘Trump United Nations’ that ignores the fundamentals of the UN charter.”<\/p>\n

Similarly, in a desperate attempt to hold the line, the French foreign ministry issued <\/a>a forlorn statement that “reiterates [France\u2019s] attachment to the United Nations charter”.<\/p>\n