“The official fund for Donald Trump’s Board of Peace is empty and the organization is stuck in a legal and political limbo that has held up projects to rebuild Gaza,” the Financial Times reported May 27. “Zero dollars have been deposited” into the Board’s account set up by the World Bank, a source reportedly told FT.
Instead, donors have been depositing money into a private JPMorgan account tied to the Board of Peace. This move allows the Board to sidestep any regulations and transparency requirements that were otherwise part of its original charter and endorsement by the United Nations. This apparently includes donations from Morocco and the UAE.
In addition, none of the money the Board has received has been disbursed, and no contracts have been awarded, because the “peace plan” touted by Trump has yet to get off the ground in Gaza. Bishara Bahbah, a Palestinian-American businessman who helped negotiate with Hamas on behalf of the Trump administration, said the committee has yet to start work inside Gaza because of a “lack of any funding to enable them to execute anything on the ground.”
