Govt silent over Gaza Board of Peace membership as signing ceremony looms

The government on Thursday remained silent on the question of whether or not it will join United States President Donald Trump’s Gaza Board of Peace, with the signing ceremony for the board’s members set to take place in the Swiss ski resort of Davos later in the day.

Reports had surfaced on Saturday claiming that Cyprus had been invited to join the board, with news website Bloomberg then reporting that each country which joins will be required to pay a $1 billion membership fee.

Government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis then confirmed on Sunday that Cyprus had been invited to join, but said reports regarding the $1bn membership fee “do not reflect reality”. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was also invited to join the board, has since confirmed the existence of the $1bn fee.

Since then, a total of 24 countries have confirmed that they will join the board, including Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Hungary, Israel, Pakistan and Turkey, with the latter’s foreign ministry having confirmed that Hakan Fidan will be in Davos on Thursday for the signing ceremony.

Meanwhile, a total of seven countries – France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden and the United Kingdom – have all declined invites to participate. Greece has also expressed reservations.

British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper was in Davos on Thursday but declined to sign her country up as a member of the board, saying that the board’s creation is “a legal treaty that raises much broader issues”.

She added that her country also has “concerns” about Putin’s potential involvement in the board, though the Russian government, like that of Cyprus, is yet to confirm or deny whether it will join the board.

In addition to a board of participating countries, the Board of Peace will also have a seven-member executive board, which will include US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, US special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son in law Jared Kushner, former British Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair, and World Bank president Ajay Banga among its members.

According to the White House, each executive board member will “oversee a defined portfolio critical to Gaza’s stabilisation and long-term success, including, but not limited to, governance capacity-building, regional relations, reconstruction, investment attraction, large-scale funding, and capital mobilisation”.

Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov, who once served as the UN’s special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, was named as the board’s “high representative for Gaza”.

The White House said that he will “act as the on-the-ground link” between the Board of Peace and a new national committee for the administration of Gaza, the Palestinian-run arm of the new system of governance in Gaza, led by civil engineer Ali Shaath.

In addition, the White House said it had also created a “Gaza executive board”, which will act separately from the founding executive board, which will be charged with “supporting effective governance and the delivery of best-in-class services that advance peace, stability, and prosperity for the people of Gaza”.

Witkoff, Kushner, Blair, and Mladenov are all also members of this board, with notable other members including incumbent UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process Sigrid Kaag and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.

Christodoulides had attended the summit on the future of Gaza in the Egyptian city of Sharm El-Sheikh in October last year, and said before travelling to it that he wanted “Cypriot companies to have a role in the reconstruction” of the strip.

He returned from that summit speaking of “six initiatives the Republic of Cyprus can undertake” based on Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza’s future.

Meanwhile, government sources told the Cyprus Mail that those initiatives were based on three subjects: security, humanitarian aid and reconstruction.

They said the six initiatives had been submitted in the form of a letter to the European Union and the United Nations in Sharm El-Sheikh, while copies had also been distributed to the summit’s other attendees.

The letter, they said, spoke of how Cyprus can “utilise our geographical position” to contribute to the future of Gaza, “just as we did for the Amalthea initiative”.

“We are basically saying, ‘whatever help you may need, we are here to utilise our geographical position and the fact that we are accepted by both Israel and Palestine, and by the Arab states, to offer what we can to help’,” the sources said.

Later that month, presidential press office director Victor Papadopoulos said that Christodoulides had informed El-Sisi and heads of government of other EU member states that Cypriot government seeks to offer “operational support” for the plan and does not seek to become a political mediator.