Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted an invitation to join US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace.
A statement from his office said Netanyahu would become a member of the board, which is to be comprised of world leaders.”
The board was originally thought to be aimed at helping end the two-year war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and overseeing reconstruction.
But its proposed charter does not mention the Palestinian territory and appears to be designed to supplant the functions of the United Nations.
The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have also agreed to join, as have Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Morocco, and Vietnam.
However, many other countries have expressed reservations.
It is not clear how many countries have been invited to join Trump’s new body. Canada, Russia, Turkey, and the UK are among them, but have not yet publicly responded.
Norway has said it will not join because the current proposal “raises several questions”, while France and Sweden have indicated they will do the same.
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According to a copy of the charter leaked to the media, member states will be given a renewable three-year term, but they can secure a permanent place if they contribute $1billion (£740m) of funding to the board.
The document says the Board of Peace will be “an international organisation that seeks to promote stability, restore dependable and lawful governance, and secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict”. It will “undertake such peace-building functions in accordance with international law”, it adds.
Trump will be the chairman but also “separately serve” as the representative of the US.
A US official has said the chairmanship can be held by Trump “until he resigns it”, but that a future US president may choose a new representative.
