By Kevin Liptak, Paula Newton, CNN
(CNN) — Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Canada’s leader Mark Carney and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio are among the members of the “Board of Peace” that will oversee the reconstruction of Gaza.
The establishment of the board, chaired by US President Donald Trump, is a key step in the United Nations-backed American plan to demilitarize and rebuild the enclave, that was ravaged by two years of war between Israel and the Hamas militant group.
The “founding Executive Board” also includes Trump’s foreign-policy envoy Steve Witkoff, deputy national security adviser Robert Gabriel and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, as well as billionaire businessman Marc Rowan and World Bank head Ajay Banga.
Additional members are yet to be announced, a White House statement said Friday. A Canadian government official subsequently told CNN that Prime Minister Carney had also accepted an invitation to join the board.
Before the members were named, Trump labeled the panel “the Greatest and Most Prestigious Board ever assembled” in an earlier social media post officially announcing its formation on Thursday.
Members will each be given a defined portfolio “critical to Gaza’s stabilization and long-term success,” the White House statement said.
The board has no representative of the Palestinian Authority, a rival to Hamas that runs parts of the occupied West Bank and is expected to eventually be handed control of Gaza, after completing extensive reforms.
Blair – who led Britain for a decade until 2007 and took his country into the war in Iraq in 2003 – was initially suggested as a potential leader for the board last year, but the talk quickly faded.
His support for the US-led Iraq campaign damaged Blair’s standing among some Arab states. And in his post-political role as Middle East envoy for what was known as the Quartet, he was disliked by the Palestinians for a perceived pro-Israel stance.
Governance of Gaza
Under the US plan, the day-to-day governance of Gaza will be handled by a separate Palestinian technocratic committee, which will have 15 members.
It will be led by Dr. Ali Sha’ath, a Palestinian from Gaza who previously held a number of positions in the Palestinian Authority, the White House said. The panel will focus on restoring core public services and institutions to help stabilize life in Gaza, according to the statement.
Nickolay Mladenov, a Bulgarian politician and diplomat who previously served as the UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, will serve as high representative for Gaza, the White House said.
Under the US-brokered agreement, the technocratic committee is supposed to run Gaza until a reformed Palestinian Authority can take over, which could then lead to what the plan calls a “credible path to Palestinian self-determination and statehood.” Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes the Palestinian Authority’s involvement in Gaza, and any notion of a Palestinian state.
Israel effectively had veto power over the members of the committee, demanding that no members of Hamas or the Palestinian Authority be allowed to join. According to an Israeli official, the head of the country’s internal security agency, known as the Shin Bet, told the security cabinet on Tuesday that the agency had approved the 15 names on the committee.
A separate “Gaza executive board” to support governance has also been formed and includes officials from Turkey, Qatar, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and some members of the “Board of Peace” and the technocratic committee.
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CNN’s Tim Lister, Jennifer Hansler, Ibrahim Dahman and Tal Shalev contributed reporting
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