Four months after its creation, the "Peace Council's" account is empty, the Financial Times reports, citing four sources. Due to the lack of funding, Trump's organization has found itself in a situation of uncertainty.
Despite promises from several countries to allocate a total of $17 billion to the "Peace Council" established by U.S. President Donald Trump, this organization has not received any money four months after its establishment. This was reported by the Financial Times (FT) on Wednesday, May 27, citing four sources familiar with the situation.
No Progress on the Goals of the "Peace Council"
"Not a single dollar has been credited," one of the sources told the publication. As a result, the organization has found itself in legal and political uncertainty, which has slowed down the implementation of its projects for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, FT notes.
According to the newspaper, there has been no progress on any of the three main goals of the "Peace Council," which include disarming the Palestinian group Hamas, withdrawing Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip, and its reconstruction. Furthermore, it is stated that not "a single American dollar" has been allocated for the reconstruction of the Palestinian enclave.
"Peace Council" Accepts Donations Outside of the Fund
A representative of the "Peace Council" and another source familiar with the workings of the new organization indicated that it accepts donations directly through its bank account at JPMorgan instead of using the fund managed by the World Bank and approved by the UN. Moreover, there are no independent transparency requirements regarding the JPMorgan account, while the World Bank is obliged to report on the financial status of the Gaza aid fund to donors, it is further noted.
As noted further, Morocco's contributions of about $20 million helped finance the activities of the office of the "High Representative of the Peace Council for Post-War Gaza" Nikolai Mladenov, as well as the salaries of members of the Palestinian technocratic committee formed by the "Council" to manage the Gaza Strip.
Reuters: Only Morocco and the UAE Provided Funds
Problems with funding the "Peace Council" had been reported earlier. Of the nine countries that promised to direct funds to it, only the UAE, Morocco, and the United States did so, Reuters reported in April. The total amount collected was less than $1 billion.
At a meeting of the "Peace Council" in Washington in February, Trump announced that the participating countries - Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, the UAE, Morocco, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, and Kuwait - promised to allocate $7 billion for the Gaza Strip. The U.S. was supposed to add another $10 billion to this amount, and the UN - $2 billion. The money was to be used, among other things, to finance the national committee for the governance of Gaza (NCAG) overseen by the "Peace Council," which was planned to take control of the region after disarming Hamas.
According to Reuters, the representative of the "Peace Council" Mladenov told Palestinian organizations that "there is currently no money." The "Council" rejected reports of a funding shortfall.
