PLEA Network

21 January 2026, SBS News: $1.5 billion for a seat: Is Trump’s new Board of Peace an ‘irreparable’ threat? Experts say Trump’s new body is susceptible to nepotism and corruption, and could undermine the role of the United Nations. A Donald Trump-led organisation that seeks to facilitate peace in the Middle East and beyond could, in fact, do the opposite and cause damage to the international order, experts warn. Trump has invited world leaders to join his so-called ‘Board of Peace’, an entity that started with a mandate to oversee the administration and reconstruction of Gaza, but has quickly ballooned in its planned remit. Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas signed off on Trump’s plan, which says a Palestinian technocratic administration will be overseen by an international board, which will supervise Gaza’s governance for a transitional period. Diplomats have said the plan risks undermining existing United Nations structures, with reports that permanent seats could be bought for a billion dollars, according to media reports. Hugh Lovatt, a senior policy fellow with the Middle East and North Africa Program at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said officials around the world have been privately concerned the Board of Peace is a “Trumpian effort to replace the United Nations”. “Those concerns are indeed borne out by virtue of the sheer number of UN members that are now invited to this Board of Peace,” he told ABC radio. “It is clear that Trump himself has greater aspirations and has talked about the Board of Peace potentially taking charge to some extent in Ukraine and potentially also Venezuela and in Iran.” Read more here