As President Donald Trump on Thursday held the first meeting of the so-called Board of Peace, the international organization ostensibly set up to oversee the Gaza ceasefire plan, contracting documents leaked to the Guardian provide the latest evidence that the board aims to permanently occupy the exclave that's been under Israeli bombardment for more than two years.
The documents detailtr plans for a sprawling military base with capacity for 5,000 people that's set to be built over 350 acres in southern Gaza, which is currently under Israeli control as stipulated by the ceasefire deal reached in October.
The base would serve as the headquarters for the International Stabilization Force (ISF), a future military force composed of troops from more than 20 countries that have signed on to the Board of Peace—an effort that has not secured support from a number of major US allies including the United Kingdom, the European Union, and key EU members such as France, Germany, and Spain.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said at the Munich Security Conference last week that plans for the Board of Peace do not match the original United Nations mandate, which she said "provided for it to be limited in time until 2027, it provided for the Palestinians to have a say, and it referred to Gaza, whereas the statute of the Board of Peace makes no reference to any of these things."
In Davos last month, Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner unveiled the board's plans for a "New Gaza," including areas for "coastal tourism" and residential towers.
The ISF, which has been approved by the UN Security Council, would be tasked with securing Gaza's border and protecting civilians while training and overseeing Palestinian police forces.
But Diana Buttu, a Palestinian-Canadian former peace negotiator, told the Guardian that the establishment of a massive military base by the Board of Peace—of which Trump has been named as the permanent leader, according to its UN-approved charter—can only be seen as an act of US occupation.
“Whose permission did they get to build that military base?” Buttu asked.
A Trump administration official denied that US military forces will be stationed at the military base and declined to discuss the contracting documents when asked about them by the Guardian.
"As the president has said, no US boots will be on the ground," the official told the outlet. "We’re not going to discuss leaked documents.”
The plans viewed by the Guardian detail 26 armored watchtowers, a network of bunkers for troops to go for protection, a small-arms range, and a barbed-wire perimeter.
The documents also describe plans to conduct a "geophysical survey" of the site planned for the military base to identify "subterranean voids, tunnels, or large cavities"—likely a reference to tunnels used by Hamas—and includes a "Human Remains Protocol."
“If suspected human remains or cultural artifacts are discovered, all work in the immediate area must cease immediately, the area must be secured, and the contracting officer must be notified immediately for direction," reads the document.
The bodies of about 10,000 Palestinians are believed to be buried under rubble across Gaza, according to the exclave's civil defense agency. Israel's bombardment of Gaza—which has continued with attacks since the ceasefire was reached last October—has killed more than 75,000 Palestinians and damaged approximately 81 of all structures in the exclave, according to the UN Satellite Center. The agency said in October that 123,464 buildings were classified as "destroyed."
On Thursday, Trump spoke at the inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace about plans for the body to “strengthen up the United Nations" and "almost be looking over the United Nations and making sure it runs properly.”
He also said the US would be paying $10 billion into the Board of Peace but did not explain how that investment would be funded or whether Congress, which would have to approve the funds, had been consulted.
The meeting, said one organizer with the grassroots group People's Forum, was a "petrifying projection of imperialist dystopia."
"Trump and the Board of Peace’s plan," they said, "is to enact neo-colonialism in Gaza and across occupied Palestine through an Israeli and international police force, and nothing more."
