Did Cyprus do right thing walking away from Board of Peace?

Nicosia this week walked back its initial enthusiasm at having been invited to US President Donald Trump’s so-called Board of Peace, perhaps coming to realise it was not the best idea to jump on the bandwagon of what looks like a exclusive members club designed to rival or even replace the United Nations system.

As one former diplomat put it: “They did a backflip”.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source said the fate of the Cyprus problem rests on UN Security Council resolutions.

“So Cyprus cannot attach itself to an endeavour like the Board of Peace which apparently seeks to supplant the United Nations.

“After the initial excitement, it seems the government had second thoughts, and decided to avoid committing to the BoP by invoking collective decision-making by the EU.”

Last weekend, after it emerged that Trump had sent President Nikos Christodoulides an invite to participate on the board, the president sounded ebullient.

His soundbite: the invitation “demonstrates the recognition of the role of the Republic of Cyprus in the broader Middle East region”.

Fast-forward to Thursday, when Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos offered a more cautious take.

While thanking the US president “for the invitation to a closed circle of invitees”, Kombos said that given that the charter of the Board of Peace – which had been published in the meantime – evinces a far broader function than initially understood, Cyprus would consult with its EU partners.

Brussels was in the process of “formulating a common posistion”.

The foreign minister was also keen to clarify that Christodoulides did not attend the World Economic Forum at Davos – where the BoP was launched on Thursday – as he had prior obligations.

Clearly Nicosia sought refuge behind collective decision-making, aided by the fact that the EU –invited as a bloc to join the BoP – said it was mulling over the matter.

At the same time, Cyprus needs to tread a fine line in case it gets on Trump’s bad side.

Contacted by the Cyprus Mail, diplomatic sources simply referred back to Kombos’ statements.

Asked if Cyprus joining Trump’s initiative has been ruled out, the sources said no.

Former foreign minister Ioannis Kasoulides suggested Christodoulides had jumped the gun at news of the invite.

“His default PR strategy is to promote his inflated sense of success. But whoever is in a hurry and seeks accolades in the international arena, risks tripping over. He should be more careful.”

Professor of international relations at the University of Cyprus Costas Constantinou said “there are two major risks” to Cyprus joining the BoP.

“First, it appears that a state is not just joining a Board of Peace for the reconstruction of Gaza, as originally planned, but an international organisation that will intervene in conflict zones as periodically determined by the Board and the Chairman.

“Second, the chairman has extensive to absolute powers over membership, agenda-setting and decision-making, and holds this position for life, even designating his successor. It’s an autocratic and authoritarian international organisation that will determine which conflicts are to be addressed and how they ought to be solved.”

And, Constantinou stressed, there’s no mention in the board’s charter of foundational principles like the protection of human rights, self-determination and the non threat or use of force.

“That is why many European states have serious reservations or are against joining the Board of Peace, at least on the basis of the charter they were sent.”

On the other hand, if there were some assurances that the BoP’s primary mission is to work toward the reconstruction of Gaza, it would be positive for Cyprus to participate.

But he added: “Beyond Gaza, the primary motive for many states joining the Board of Peace is befriending the new sheriff [meaning Trump], aiming to capitalise on this friendship to resolve their own issues to their advantage.

Would Nicosia incur Trump’s wrath should it decide not to participate?

“Most probably. That is why it needs to carefully assess the implications of joining or not joining. But also to coordinate its response with that of other European states that seek to check and restrict the initiatives of an increasingly unstable and coercive USA.”

One option, opined Constantinou, is for Cyprus to conditionally accept joining the Board of Peace, specifically on the basis of UN Security Council Resolution 2803 and limited to peacebuilding and the reconstruction of Gaza.

As a host of commentators have pointed out, there’s a great deal that is worrisome about the BoP. Some dismiss it as not a serious project – yet still a threat to the international order.

American political scientist and international relations scholar Professor John Mearsheimer called the BoP “cockamamie”.

Speaking on a podcast, Mearsheimer commented: “What we have with President Trump, and this shows what a radical president he is, is that he has no interest in international law, he thinks it’s just cumbersome and useless, and he has little interest in international institutions.

“You want to understand that his administration recently withdrew from 66 international institutions, number one; and number two, this Board of Peace – this cockamamie idea he’s come up with – is basically designed to undermine the United Nations…”

At the launch ceremony in Davos, just 19 countries signed up to the BoP. They include Argentina, Paraguay, Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Kosovo, Morocco, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan.

A long list of countries, including Canada, France, Germany, Italy and other European nations, were absent from the signing, and some have specifically rejected the invitation.

Of the 27 EU member-states, only Hungary and Bulgaria signed up.

The officials of the countries who did join will sit on the BoP’s governing board, chaired by none other than Trump.

After Trump’s “top leaders” were presented, his son-in-law Jared Kushner unveiled a $30 billion “Trump development plan” for “New Gaza.”

Replete with a skyscraper-crammed coastline, the vision would see the wholesale bulldozing of the Strip to create a newly engineered society and economy under BoP supervision.

As the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank noted in an article: “What began with a mandate to implement Washington’s Gaza ceasefire plan, as enshrined in UN Security Council resolution 2803, has morphed into a personal vehicle for a Trumpist world order.

“The BoP’s charter omits any reference to Gaza and echoes Trump’s criticism of the UN, calling for ‘courage to depart from… institutions that have often failed’ by establishing a ‘a more nimble and effective international peace-building body’.”

Under the board’s charter, all decisions and power emanate from Trump as he selects and presides over a subordinate governing board of member states.

Board members will serve three-year terms, renewable at the chairman’s discretion. Together, they will vote on the BoP’s budget, international agreements and “peace-building initiatives”, with only a simple majority – and the approval of the chairman – required.

Below the governing board is an executive board and CEO appointed by Trump. It’s tasked with day-to-day running of the BoP and the managing of funds. It also has the mandate to set the agenda for each board meeting.

Among the executive board’s members are senior US officials and businessmen: Jared Kushner, the founder of Affinity Partners, an American investment firm with close ties to Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds; and Ajay Banga, another business executive and president of the World Bank Group.

The BoP has a number of subsidiary entities focused on Gaza, which Trump has “exclusive authority to create, modify, or dissolve.”

First is the Gaza Executive Board to oversee the implementation of Trump’s 20-point plan, including a Palestinian National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG). Comprising 15 members and charged with Gaza’s day-to-day management, the NCAG sits at the bottom of the hierarchy with little influence or agency.

More worryingly, Trump has appointed two White House advisors, Aryeh Lightstone and Josh Gruenbaum, as senior BoP advisors.

Lightstone’s background raises a red flag: he was an advisor to former US ambassador David Friedman and is a “staunch defender” of Israel’s settlement project.

Lightstone was also linked to the disastrous Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which caused the deaths of numerous Gazan aid seekers, and is now working through the Gaza Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) to develop US plans for post-conflict Gaza.

Independent American journalist and geopolitical analyst Patrick Henningsen, described the setup as an “abomination”.

He said in an email to the Cyprus Mail: “Like the failed Abraham Accords, an audacious maneuver hatched by the President’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Netanyahu, and designed to undermine scores of UN resolutions and international law, this so-called ‘Board of Peace’ completely bypasses any input from the one stakeholder which should matter the most – the native Palestinian population. Hence, this scheme will likely fail for the same reason”.

Henningsen, co-founder and executive editor of the 21st Century Wire news website, went on: “Trump and Netanyahu are attempting to subvert all international laws and conventions, in order to, in effect, privatise diplomacy, in the deluded hope that this VIP club business model will somehow become the new template for international dispute resolutions.

In addition to Cyprus, all the major European governments aren’t joining, while Russia and China are holding back on the sidelines. “So Trump goes and appoints a wanted war criminal, Netanyahu to this vaunted board? And Kushner wants to recreate Dubai on top of the remains of potentially hundreds of thousands of dead Palestinians – killed with US bombs. It’s an abomination. Trump won’t get the buy-in necessary to make this happen, but don’t let that get in the way of a good headline splash, which is about all the value he’ll be able to extract from this gaudy exercise.”