Israel has become the latest country to join US President Donald Trump‘s Board of Peace, which is aimed at resolving global conflicts.

A statement from the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu said he agreed to join the board, after his office earlier criticised the make-up of the board’s executive committee.

The committee included Turkey, a regional rival. 

The board was originally conceived to oversee the rebuilding of Gaza, but the charter does not appear to limit its role to the Palestinian territory.

It is ‘an international organization that seeks to promote stability, restore dependable and lawful governance, and secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict’, reads the preamble of the charter sent to countries invited to participate.

It will ‘undertake such peace-building functions in accordance with international law’, it adds.

In order to become a member, countries must be invited by the US president, and will be represented by their head of state or government.

Each member ‘shall serve a term of no more than three years’, the charter says.

But ‘the three-year membership term shall not apply to member states that contribute more than USD $1,000,000,000 in cash funds to the Board of Peace within the first year of the charter’s entry into force’, it adds.

The US official said that membership itself ‘does not carry any mandatory funding obligation beyond whatever a state or partner chooses to contribute voluntarily’.

The board will convene annual meetings with decisions by a majority vote, with the chairman breaking any tie.

Dozens of countries and leaders have said they have received an invitation, including close US allies but also adversaries.

China has been invited and both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, despite Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

A number of governments immediately said they would join.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a nationalist who is Trump’s most ardent supporter in the European Union, is in, as is the United Arab Emirates, a close US partner.

Argentina’s President Javier Milei has confirmed his country’s participation, calling the invitation an ‘honour’.

Canada said it would take part, but explicitly ruled out paying the $1 billion fee for permanent membership.

Meanwhile, longtime US ally France has indicated it will not join. The response sparked an immediate threat from Trump to slap sky-high tariffs on French wine.

Swedish Prime ‍Minister Ulf Kristersson told ⁠reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos ⁠on Wednesday that his country would not be joining with the text presented so far. 

Norway’s government also revealed on Wednesday it would not join, with State Secretary Kristoffer Thoner saying in a statement: ‘The American proposal raises a number of questions’ requiring “further dialogue with the United States”.’

‘Norway will therefore not join the proposed arrangements for the Board of Peace, and will therefore not attend a signing ceremony in Davos,’ Thoner said, adding that Norway would still continue its close cooperation with the United States.

Zelensky said it would be ‘very hard’ to be a member of a council alongside Russia, and diplomats were ‘working on it’.

Britain echoed the sentiment, saying it was ‘concerned’ that Putin had been invited.

‘Putin is the aggressor in an illegal war against Ukraine, and he has shown time and time again he is not serious about peace,’ said a Downing Street spokesperson.

The charter says the board enters into force ‘upon expression of consent to be bound by three States’. 

Read More Here