The US plans to hold the first working meeting of the Board of Peace on February 19 in Washington, two Arab diplomats told The Times of Israel on Saturday.

The US sent out invitations to the 26 other countries represented on the panel on Friday afternoon, the diplomats said, confirming a report on the Axios news site.

The date is set to coincide with the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan, which may complicate Muslim leaders’ plans to attend.

The US held a signing ceremony for the Board of Peace on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last month.

But while several dozen countries were invited, less than two dozen participated in the ceremony, amid discomfort with the Board of Peace’s charter, which envisions the initiative as a means of usurping the United Nations, and amid Washington’s spat with Western countries over Greenland.

US officials have sought to assure allies that the Board of Peace will first deal only with Gaza, in line with a UN Security Council resolution that granted the panel a mandate to oversee the postwar management of the Strip for the next two years.

The February 19 conference will be used to fundraise for the initiative, which will need at least several billion dollars to get off the ground.

It is unclear how much buy-in there is, given that many countries remain hesitant to get involved due to skepticism that Hamas will disarm and that Israel will agree to further withdraw from the Strip.

While Mideast mediators of the Gaza conflict — Egypt, Qatar and Turkey — have been discussing potential disarmament plans with Hamas for months, no formal proposal has been presented to the terror group.

The mediators envision a gradual disarmament process that begins with heavier weapons and offers jobs or money to those who agree to give up their arms in addition to amnesty, in a process that will likely take several months. Israel is unlikely to back this more drawn-out process, one of the Arab diplomats said.

Moreover, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, which is supposed to replace Hamas in governing the Strip, has yet to enter the enclave since being established last month.

The Board of Peace Gaza envoy Nickolay Mladenov has been working to put together a package of steps easing the humanitarian situation in Gaza that can give the national committee the tools to be able to enter the Strip with a degree of legitimacy, the Arab diplomats said.

However, he has had a difficult time convincing the Israeli government to cooperate, with Jerusalem insisting that only life-saving aid be allowed into areas where Hamas is still located. Nearly all of Gaza’s population of 2 million is living in those areas.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is slated to be in Washington from February 18 to 22 on a trip that will overlap with the scheduled Board of Peace meeting.

He was unable to attend the signing ceremony in Davos due to the international arrest warrant he faces.

While Netanyahu expressed opposition over the Trump administration’s inclusion of Qatar and Turkey on the Board of Peace’s Gaza Executive Board, the Arab diplomats speculated that he will have little choice but to attend the Washington gathering, given that not doing so when he is already in town would be viewed as a snub of the US president.

US President Donald Trump and Netanyahu are slated to meet at the White House a day before the Board of Peace meeting, said one of the Arab diplomats who is familiar with the planning.

Source: