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Instead of using the World Bank-administered and UN-backed fund, the board has been receiving donations directly through its JPMorgan account, the board spokesman and another person familiar with the arrangements said.
The official fund for Donald Trump's "Peace Board" is empty and the organization is in a legal and political impasse that has blocked projects to rebuild Gaza.
The US president described the board, which demanded a $1 billion “lifetime membership” fee from world leaders, as one of the “most influential” international organizations ever created. Member states pledged $7 billion for the board’s “aid package” for Gaza, while Trump pledged another $10 billion in US funding.
But four months after its creation, the World Bank-backed financial fund has not received any contributions from donors, according to four people familiar with the matter. “Not a single dollar has been deposited ,” one of them said.
Instead of using the World Bank-administered and UN-backed fund, the board has been receiving donations directly through its JPMorgan account, the board spokesman and another person familiar with the arrangements said.
While the World Bank must report on the financial status of the Gaza fund to contributors and board members, there are no independent transparency requirements for the JPMorgan account.
A Peace Board official told the Financial Times that “several avenues for obtaining funds have been established,” including the World Bank mechanism, and that “at this stage, contributors have chosen to use other options.”
The Peace Board "will report its finances" to its executive board, which is made up of Trump administration officials and other advisors, " at a time deemed appropriate," the official added.
Morocco's contributions of about $20 million have helped fund the office of Nickolay Mladenov, the post-war "high representative" for Gaza, as well as salaries for the Palestinian technocratic committee the board created to administer the territory.
The United Arab Emirates also recently provided $100 million to train a new police force for Gaza, but the program has not yet started and the funds have been frozen, two people familiar with the matter said.
Democratic Senator Brian Schatz said Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, had told him that the board enjoys legal jurisdiction similar to that of a UN agency, describing it as "a structure created by the UN to review reconstruction and humanitarian efforts in Gaza."
Trump, by contrast, refers to the board as “a kind of royal court,” Schatz said. “ Plus, I just don’t know exactly what it is . . . It’s not clear to me at all.”
Others involved in planning for post-war Gaza said further legal questions arose from the way the UN Security Council resolution on Gaza described the board as a “transitional administration” until the Palestinian Authority regained control of the territory. “What happens when this is over?” one of the people said.
One potential contractor said: “Who is responsible for Gaza? What law applies in Gaza? There is a lot of risk for companies trying to do this.”
Following the US-brokered ceasefire that ended two years of intense fighting between Israel and Hamas, Trump presented an ambitious, multi-phased plan that called for the disarmament of the militant group, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and the reconstruction of the territory.
No progress has been made on any of these three key objectives. Two people familiar with planning for post-war Gaza added that “not a single US dollar” has been used to rebuild the Palestinian territory.
Bishara Bahbah, the Palestinian-American businessman who helped negotiate with Hamas on behalf of the Trump administration, said the committee has not yet begun work inside Gaza due to "the lack of any funding that would enable them to implement anything on the ground."
"They know that if they go to Gaza, people will flock to them asking for help, and they don't have the means, they don't have the means. The situation is really grim," said Bahbah, who speaks regularly with committee members.
The board spokesman said it had no authority on the ground “to manage the flow of services and goods that are envisaged as part of the plan”. “ We are not keeping money blocked in a bank account and then awarding contracts for things that cannot be delivered,” he said. / Adapted from “Pamphlet” by “ Financial Times”
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