Donald Trump has claimed the world is “richer, safer and much more peaceful than it was just one year ago” as he hosted a launch event for his “board of peace” initiative at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
At a signing ceremony for the new organisation, the US president said it would be “one of the most consequential bodies ever created in the history of the world”.
US and Palestinian officials also used the ceremony to lay out a blueprint for the next steps in implementing a ceasefire in Gaza, and putting the territory under the day-to-day control of a Palestinian-run technocratic administration, which has been assembled in Cairo.
The president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner outlined a plan for the next 100 days, including a significant increase in aid deliveries, the rehabilitation of essential infrastructure, such as water, electricity and sewage systems, and the reconstruction of hospitals and bakeries. Kushner also presented an aspirational map of a future Gaza in which the territory had a buffer zone around the border with Israel but was unified, rather than partitioned as it is now.
In the most dramatic moment of the ceremony, Ali Shaath, the Palestinian official chosen to run an interim administration in Gaza, appeared by video link to announce that the Rafah crossing from Gaza to Egypt would be reopened next week for traffic in both directions for the first time since May 2024.
Describing Rafah as Gaza’s lifeline, Shaath said: “Opening Rafah signals Gaza is no longer closed to the future or to the world.”
Addressing the people of Gaza, Shaath said: “Step by step, with discipline and determination we will rebuild a capable Gaza – capable of self-reliance – and we will build it into a centre for freedom, opportunity and peace.”
The announcements are likely to alarm the Israeli coalition led by the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, which is opposed to a unified and Palestinian-run Gaza. Some ministers support the building of Israeli settlements on occupied territory, and several are opposed to the reopening of Rafah before the body of the Israeli hostage Ran Gvili, the last to be accounted for, is handed over by Hamas.
The Israeli cabinet was due to convene on Thursday to discuss Rafah and the other developments announced in Davos.
Trump himself focused on his past achievements and repeated his disputed claim to have stopped eight wars. “We put out all those fires. Most people didn’t know, including me, that some of those wars were going on,” he said.
Ministers and heads of government from 19 countries filed on to the stage and took their seats before Trump took to the podium and called it “one of the most important meetings of all”.
Countries represented by the 18 men and one woman – the president of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani – included Morocco, Hungary, Indonesia, Jordan, Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia. Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, was also present.
Trump described them as “in most cases very popular leaders – in some cases, not so popular, but that’s the way it goes in life”. He also claimed that the organisation would be “one of the most consequential bodies ever created in the history of the world”.
Trump was joined at a table on the stage to sign a document inaugurating the body by the Moroccan foreign minister, Nasser Bourita, and Sheikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa of Bahrain. Other leaders then approached to sign in pairs, their names read out by Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt.
Some diplomats had warned that Trump might hope the organisation would supplant the United Nations, but the US president claimed the two could work together.
“I think the combination of the board of peace with the kind of people we have here, coupled with the United Nations could be something very, very unique for the world,” he said, adding that the UN had “tremendous potential” that had yet to be realised.
The board, to be chaired by Trump, was initially mooted as part of his plan for a ceasefire in Gaza.
However, more recently he has suggested the board could take on a much broader geopolitical role. When asked by a reporter on Tuesday whether the fledgling body should replace the UN, Trump said: “It might.”
Last week, he announced a “founding executive board” for the body, including the former UK prime minister Tony Blair, the World Bank president, Ajay Banga, and Kushner.
Trump claimed the war in Gaza had been reduced to “little fires”. He said Hamas would “have to give up their weapons” and claimed that its members were “born with rifles in their hands”.
Earlier on Thursday, the British foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, said the UK would not be signing up to the “board of peace” for the moment.
“There’s a huge amount of work to do – we won’t be one of the signatories today, because this is about a legal treaty that raises much broader issues, and we do also have concerns about President [Vladimir] Putin being part of something which is talking about peace, when we have still not seen any signs from Putin that there will be a commitment to peace in Ukraine, and to be honest, that is also what we should be talking about,” she said.
Russia has not attended the World Economic Forum since invading Ukraine in 2022. Putin has said Moscow is still consulting with “strategic partners” before deciding whether to commit to the plan.
