Dozens of world leaders and national delegations will meet in Washington DC on Thursday for the inaugural meeting of Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, as major European allies declined to join the group and criticised the organisation’s murky funding and political mandate. There also was little indication how a Board of Peace could break a key deadlock in negotiations between Israel and Hamas, he added. Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, who signed up to the idea during a visit to Washington last week, has chosen to skip the meeting. Developments on the ground have indicated that few of the political or security organisations under the Trump-backed peace plan have actually made progress toward resolving the conflict or easing Gaza’s humanitarian crisis. “Everything is going slower than expected, and everyone is very frustrated,” said Gershon Baskin, an Israeli commentator and peace activist who played a role in negotiating the peace plan.

Source: The Guardian February 18, 2026 23:38 UTC