WASHINGTON/BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – States can secure a permanent seat in US President Donald Trump’s newly created “Peace Council” if they contribute one billion US dollars to the budget within a year. This emerges from the draft charter, which was reported by several media outlets and the full text of which was published by the Times of Israel.
The 13 chapters also show that the US government wants to greatly expand the Council’s mandate – beyond the previous focus on the pacification and reconstruction of the Gaza Strip. The council should therefore take care of crises and conflicts around the globe.
Critics are therefore already talking about possible competition with the United Nations, which Trump repeatedly criticizes as dysfunctional. This criticism is also echoed in the preamble. It states that lasting peace requires “pragmatic judgment, sensible solutions and the courage to move away from approaches and institutions that have too often failed.” The aim is a “more agile and effective” international peacebuilding body.
Invitations to the first heads of state and government
According to the current concept, the council should concentrate on the Gaza conflict. The committee is part of the second phase of Trump’s peace plan for the Gaza Strip, which calls for a permanent end to the war and the disarmament of the terrorist organization Hamas, which it rejects. The body is intended to oversee the new interim government of the coastal strip.
According to their own statements, several heads of state and government were recently invited by Trump to take part in the so-called Peace Council. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Egypt’s head of state Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Argentina’s President Javier Milei and Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban received invitations.
The draft charter stipulates that Trump will preside and that only heads of state and government invited by him can be members. Regular membership ends after three years – unless countries pay one billion US dollars into the council’s budget.
Changes to the document can therefore be decided with a two-thirds majority of the members, with additional confirmation from the chairman. It goes on to say that the Peace Council will dissolve, among other things, at a time “that the chairman considers necessary or appropriate”./toz/DP/he