Cyprus Mail 22 January 2026 - by Tom Cleaver
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| Palestinians walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings in Gaza City |
The government on Thursday remained silent on the question of whether or not it will join United States President Donald Trump’s Gaza Board of Peace, with the signing ceremony for the board’s members set to take place in the Swiss ski resort of Davos later in the day.
Reports had surfaced on Saturday claiming that Cyprus had been invited to join the board, with news website Bloomberg then reporting that each country which joins will be required to pay a $1 billion membership fee.
Government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis then confirmed on Sunday that Cyprus had been invited to join, but said reports regarding the $1bn membership fee “do not reflect reality”. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was also invited to join the board, has since confirmed the existence of the $1bn fee.
Since then, a total of 24 countries have confirmed that they will join the board, including Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Hungary, Israel, Pakistan and Turkey, with the latter’s foreign ministry having confirmed that Hakan Fidan will be in Davos on Thursday for the signing ceremony.
Meanwhile, a total of seven countries – France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden and the United Kingdom – have all declined invites to participate. Greece has also expressed reservations.
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper was in Davos on Thursday but declined to sign her country up as a member of the board, saying that the board’s creation is “a legal treaty that raises much broader issues”.
She added that her country also has “concerns” about Putin’s potential involvement in the board, though the Russian government, like that of Cyprus, is yet to confirm or deny whether it will join the board.
In addition to a board of participating countries, the Board of Peace will also have a seven-member executive board, which will include US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, US special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son in law Jared Kushner, former British Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair, and World Bank president Ajay Banga among its members.
According to the White House, each executive board member will “oversee a defined portfolio critical to Gaza’s stabilisation and long-term success, including, but not limited to, governance capacity-building, regional relations, reconstruction, investment attraction, large-scale funding, and capital mobilisation”.
Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov, who once served as the UN’s special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, was named as the board’s “high representative for Gaza”.
The White House said that he will “act as the on-the-ground link” between the Board of Peace and a new national committee for the administration of Gaza, the Palestinian-run arm of the new system of governance in Gaza, led by civil engineer Ali Shaath.
In addition, the White House said it had also created a “Gaza executive board”, which will act separately from the founding executive board, which will be charged with “supporting effective governance and the delivery of best-in-class services that advance peace, stability, and prosperity for the people of Gaza”.
Witkoff, Kushner, Blair, and Mladenov are all also members of this board, with notable other members including incumbent UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process Sigrid Kaag and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.
Christodoulides had attended the summit on the future of Gaza in the Egyptian city of Sharm El-Sheikh in October last year, and said before travelling to it that he wanted “Cypriot companies to have a role in the reconstruction” of the strip.
He returned from that summit speaking of “six initiatives the Republic of Cyprus can undertake” based on Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza’s future.
Meanwhile, government sources told the Cyprus Mail that those initiatives were based on three subjects: security, humanitarian aid and reconstruction.
They said the six initiatives had been submitted in the form of a letter to the European Union and the United Nations in Sharm El-Sheikh, while copies had also been distributed to the summit’s other attendees.
The letter, they said, spoke of how Cyprus can “utilise our geographical position” to contribute to the future of Gaza, “just as we did for the Amalthea initiative”.
“We are basically saying, ‘whatever help you may need, we are here to utilise our geographical position and the fact that we are accepted by both Israel and Palestine, and by the Arab states, to offer what we can to help’,” the sources said.
Later that month, presidential press office director Victor Papadopoulos said that Christodoulides had informed El-Sisi and heads of government of other EU member states that Cypriot government seeks to offer “operational support” for the plan and does not seek to become a political mediator.
BOARD OF PEACE
35 countries including Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey have committed; Russia considering
President Donald Trump on Thursday launched his Board of Peace, originally intended to help end the Gaza war but which he now sees having a wider role that Europe and some others fear will rival or undermine the United Nations.
Trump appeared to touch on those concerns in his opening remarks at a signing ceremony for the board, saying the new board would work with the U.N. as he listed other major diplomatic issues around the region and worldwide.
“Well, this is a very exciting day, long in the making, and many countries have just received their notice, and everybody wants to be a part of it, and we’ll work with many others, including the United Nations,” he said.
Trump, who will chair the board, has invited dozens of other world leaders to join it and sees the grouping addressing other global challenges beyond the stuttering Gaza truce, though he does not intend it to replace the United Nations, he has said.
Some traditional U.S. allies have balked at joining the board, which Trump says permanent members must help fund with a payment of $1 billion each, either responding cautiously or declining the invitation.
Representatives from countries introduced as founder members were present in the room as Trump spoke, but Reuters could not immediately see any representatives from governments of other top global powers or from Israel or the Palestinian Authority.
GLOBAL ROLE
Apart from the U.S., no other permanent member of the U.N. Security Council – the five nations with the most say over international law and diplomacy since the end of World War Two – has yet committed to join.
Russia said late on Wednesday it was studying the proposal after Trump said it would join. France has declined. Britain said on Thursday it was not joining at present. China has not yet said whether it will join.
The board’s creation was endorsed by a United Nations Security Council resolution as part of Trump’s Gaza peace plan, and U.N. spokesperson Rolando Gomez said on Thursday that U.N. engagement with the board would only be in that context.
However, around 35 countries have committed to join including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Turkey and Belarus.
Few of the countries that have signed up for the board are democracies though Israel and Hungary, whose leaders are both seen as close allies of Trump and supporters of his approach to politics and diplomacy, have said they will join.
The signing ceremony will be held in Davos, Switzerland, where the annual World Economic Forum bringing together global political and business leaders is taking place.
SPUTTERING GAZA CEASEFIRE
The board’s charter will task it with promoting peace around the world, a copy seen by Reuters showed, and Trump has already named other senior U.S. officials to join it, as well as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was present in Davos.
The ceasefire in Gaza, agreed in October, has sputtered for months with Israel and Hamas trading blame for repeated bursts of violence in which several Israeli soldiers and hundreds of Palestinians have been killed.
Both sides accuse each other of further violations, with Israel saying Hamas has procrastinated on returning a final body of a dead hostage and Hamas saying Israel has continued to curb aid into Gaza despite an ongoing humanitarian catastrophe.
Each side rejects the other’s accusations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted an invitation by Trump to join the board, the Israeli leader’s office says. Palestinian factions have endorsed Trump’s plan and given backing to a transitional Palestinian committee meant to administer the Gaza Strip with oversight by the board.
Trump has been characteristically bold in his comments on Gaza, saying the ceasefire amounts to “peace in the Middle East”.
Even as the first phase of the truce stumbles, its next stage must address much tougher long-term issues that have bedevilled earlier negotiations, including Hamas disarmament, security control in Gaza and eventual Israeli withdrawal.
On Wednesday in Davos, Trump met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, whose country played a major role in Gaza truce mediation talks, and they discussed the board.
