U.S. President Donald Trump has invited Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to join the Board of Peace that will oversee post-war Gaza, Türkiye announced on Jan. 17
Erdoğan received the proposal in a letter sent on Jan. 16 by Trump inviting him to "become a founding member" of the board, Turkish presidential communications director Burhanettin Duran posted on social media.
The board for postwar Gaza began to take shape, with the leaders of Türkiye, Egypt, Argentina and Canada asked to join.
The announcements from those leaders came after the U.S. president named his Secretary of State Marco Rubio, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and senior negotiators Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff to the panel. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan was also included
Trump had already declared himself the chair of the body, as he promotes a vision of economic development in the Palestinian territory, which lies in rubble after two-plus years of relentless Israeli bombardment.
‘Gaza is our show'
Meanwhile, Israel said it objected to the line-up of the Gaza panel, possibly due to the presence of Turkish and Qatari representatives.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "The announcement regarding the composition of the Gaza Executive Board, which is subordinate to the Board of Peace, was not coordinated with Israel and runs contrary to its policy."
"The Prime Minister has instructed the Foreign Affairs Minister to contact the U.S Secretary of State on this matter."
On the other hand, the U.S. media reported that Trump's advisers have little patience for Netanyahu’s objections.
"This is our show, not his show. We managed to do things in Gaza in recent months nobody thought was possible, and we are going to continue moving," a senior U.S. official told Axios, referring to Netanyahu.
According to Bloomberg News, the Trump administration has informed countries seeking a permanent seat on the proposed Board of Peace that they would be required to pledge at least $1 billion.
A draft charter reviewed by Bloomberg stated that member states would normally serve renewable terms of up to three years after the charter enters into force. However, this term limit would not apply to countries that contribute more than $1 billion in cash to the board within the first year.
