Trump’s Board of Peace drops full Gaza recovery plan in favour of tiny pilot scheme

Donald Trump's Board of Peace (BoP) has significantly scaled back its ambitious Gaza recovery plan, opting instead for a small pilot project in the southern Gaza Strip. This revised scheme involves a temporary camp for a fraction of Gaza's displaced population, managed by a Palestinian administration and a small international security force. Preparatory work for the camp near Rafah has not yet begun, and substantial progress is not anticipated before Israel's elections on October 27.

The aim is just to keep something going, keep the ball in play, because if you stop there are others with a more extreme agenda just waiting to jump in and take over, and they are talking about wholesale population transfer and colonisation.

Western diplomats believe a new Israeli government offers the best hope for progress, as the current administration has routinely violated the ceasefire and restricted aid. Concerns are growing that Prime Minister Netanyahu may launch a new offensive before the elections. The BoP's high representative, Nickolay Mladenov, has faced criticism for echoing Israeli talking points, while private appeals from US negotiator Aryeh Lightstone to relax aid restrictions have been unapproved by Israel.