Trump aims to hold the first meeting of his new Board of Peace in Washington this month

By MATTHEW LEE
AP Diplomatic Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump plans to convene the first meeting of his Board of Peace this month in Washington to raise money for the reconstruction of Gaza.

The meeting, proposed for Feb. 19, would include both world leaders who accepted Trump’s invitation in January to join the board as well as members of an executive committee for Gaza that will oversee the specifics of the territory’s governance, security and redevelopment, two Trump administration officials said Saturday.

It was not immediately clear how many leaders would accept the Republican president’s invitation, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting has not yet been formally announced and details of its agenda were still being determined.

One official said the administration expected “robust” participation.

A copy of the invitation that was sent late Friday to invited participants and obtained by The Associated Press, says the meeting will be held at the U.S. Institute of Peace, now known as the Donald J. Trump U.S. Institute of Peace, pending an ongoing legal battle with the former leadership of the nonprofit think tank. The administration seized the facility last year and fired almost all the institute’s staff.

Trump’s new board was first seen as a mechanism focused on ending the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. But it has taken shape with his ambition for a far broader mandate of resolving global crises and appears to be the latest U.S. effort to sidestep the United Nations as Trump aims to reset the post-World War II international order.

Many of America’s top allies in Europe and elsewhere have declined to join what they suspect may be an attempt to rival the Security Council.