"Council" is not love: Palestine asks to exclude Israel from Trump's new structure

Palestine opposes the participation of Israelis in the "Peace Council," Salah Abdel Shafi, Ambassador of the Arab Republic to Austria and permanent observer to international organizations in Vienna, told Izvestia. On February 19, the first meeting of the structure, which was created on the initiative of Donald Trump, took place. At the meeting, the United States promised to contribute $10 billion of its own, while Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Kazakhstan and Qatar also raised several billion together. Russia has previously expressed its readiness to send $1 billion to help the Palestinians, but Moscow has not yet made a final decision on participation in the Peace Council. Trump made it clear that he would like to see not only Russia, but also China in the ranks of the structure.

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Donald Trump established the "Peace Council" in January as part of a peace plan to end the conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. Initially, it was assumed that the structure would develop a general plan for the restoration of the exclave and coordinate financing. This approach was reflected in UN Security Council Resolution 2803, adopted in November 2025.

However, the charter of the Council, approved on January 22, significantly expanded the scope of the organization. The document does not explicitly mention the exclave, and the structure's activities are defined as contributing to "ensuring sustainable peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict." This provoked criticism from a number of states and experts, who saw the new structure as an attempt to create an alternative to existing international mechanisms, primarily the UN.

Photo: REUTERS/HASEEB ALWAZEE

Speaking at the first meeting of the Peace Council, Donald Trump announced that $7 billion had been contributed to efforts to help the Gaza Strip from Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Kuwait, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan. "The UN Humanitarian Aid Office is raising $2 billion to support the Gaza Strip," the US president added.

At the same time, he said that the United States would make its own contribution of $10 billion to the Peace Council. "It sounds like a lot of money, but it's actually very small," he said.

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Speaking about the stabilization of the situation in Gaza, the American leader said that Albania, Kosovo and Kazakhstan had promised to send troops and police units. Egypt and Jordan provide significant support, including training and escorting the Palestinian police forces, which, he said, should help improve the reliability of law enforcement agencies.

Trump expects that both Russia and China will participate in the process of stabilizing the situation in the Gaza Strip according to the plan proposed by Washington. He also stated this during his speech.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Yulia Mayorova

— The assistance provided by the Peace Council to Gaza is only a small part of the necessary funding. These funds can only cover the initial phases, humanitarian needs, and partial clearance of the territory, but full—scale reconstruction will require tens of billions of dollars in long-term international support," Mohammed al-Masri, a security expert, told Izvestia.

According to the latest joint estimates by the United Nations, the World Bank and the European Union, the total cost of a full-scale reconstruction and economic recovery of the exclave is about $70 billion. According to the UN, the volume of rubble is estimated at about 55-60 million tons.

Humanitarian crisis in Gaza

A number of Western countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Sweden and Norway, refused to participate in the council. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had previously noted that a cautious reaction to Trump's initiative was evident in both the West and the East, including the permanent members of the UN Security Council.

Meanwhile, the situation around the Gaza Strip remains unstable. Discussions about the possibility of a return to a military scenario are intensifying in Israel. Officials say that if the Hamas disarmament process fails, the army may resume large-scale hostilities in the exclave.

Photo: Global Look Press/IMAGO/Hashem Zimmo

According to Israeli media reports, the option of giving the movement two months for voluntary demilitarization is being considered, after which the start of a new military campaign is not excluded. Against this background, the Palestinian side opposes Israel's participation in the "Peace Council" — at the same time, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar attended the first meeting in Washington.

— From our point of view, he (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Salah Abdel Shafi, the Palestinian Ambassador to Austria and permanent Observer to international organizations in Vienna, said: "He is a war criminal and should be tried for his crimes, and not be a member of the Peace Council."

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Moscow, having received an invitation to participate in the "Peace Council", is still working out its position. At the same time, she previously expressed her willingness to send $1 billion to help Palestine. According to Vladimir Putin, the Russian Federation can transfer these funds to the disposal of the "Peace Council" from assets frozen in the United States, even before making a final decision on Russia's participation in the work of the structure itself. These funds can be used to rebuild the destroyed infrastructure in healthcare and education, Salah Abdel Shafi added.

Photo: REUTERS/DAWOUD ABU ALKAS

— Russia's willingness to provide assistance to the Gas sector in the amount of up to $ 1 billion means a qualitative transition to a new level of support. This initiative fully corresponds to the traditional position of the Russian Federation in support of the Palestinian people, and we highly appreciate this noble step," he said.

The Ambassador stressed that the humanitarian needs of the exclave are of a total nature.

— After the war of annihilation that the Gaza Strip was subjected to, there was virtually nothing left there. Israel has destroyed the infrastructure, destroyed the healthcare system, the educational sector, and schools. Today, the Gaza Strip needs absolutely everything," the diplomat said.

According to him, Russian funds can be used both to restore basic infrastructure and to solve priority humanitarian tasks, including supporting the population.