By Ali Sawafta and Rami Ayyub
RAMALLAH, West Bank, Jan 9 (Reuters) – The former U.N. envoy expected to help lead Donald Trump’s so-called Board of Peace for Gaza met a top Palestinian Authority official on Friday as the U.S. president pushes ahead with his plan for the enclave’s future.
Trump is expected to announce the composition of the board this month, possibly as early as next week, a U.S. official said. Portrayed as part of a transitional government, the board is an important component of Trump’s phased plan to halt the war between Israel and Hamas.
The first phase of Trump’s plan, which included a ceasefire and hostage release deal, has been shaken by issues including Israeli airstrikes in Gaza that have killed hundreds of people, a refusal by Hamas to disarm and Israeli delays in reopening Gaza’s Rafah border crossing with Egypt.
Although the two sides accuse each other of breaching the deal, Trump says he wants to move on to the second phase, a progression that would entail the establishment of the Board of Peace and a yet-to-be-agreed deployment of peacekeeping forces.
MLADENOV HAS TALKS IN RAMALLAH
Nickolay Mladenov, the former U.N. Middle East envoy who is expected to represent the board on the ground, met senior Palestinian Authority (PA) official Hussein al-Sheikh in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on Friday, the Palestinian leader said on X.
The two men discussed “the situation in the Gaza Strip, ways to move to the second phase, and mechanisms for implementing (Trump’s) plan,” Sheikh said.
Mladenov was not expected to meet PA President Mahmoud Abbas, a source familiar with the matter said. Under Trump’s plan, the PA would eventually take control of Gaza from the Board of Peace.
Israel has rejected any involvement by Hamas, which ran Gaza before the war, but has also opposed rule by the PA, the body set up under the Oslo interim peace accords three decades ago that has limited governing power in the West Bank.
On Thursday, Mladenov met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and some of his top advisers in Jerusalem, Netanyahu’s office said in a statement. Netanyahu reiterated Israel’s position that Hamas must be disarmed and Gaza should be demilitarised, in line with Trump’s plan, the statement said.
Netanyahu’s office described Mladenov as “set to become the Director of the Gaza Strip Board of Peace.”
The board, expected to also comprise officials from U.S. allies in Europe and the Middle East, would oversee a committee of Palestinian technocrats.
Mladenov, a former Bulgarian politician, served as the U.N.’s Jerusalem-based Middle East envoy from 2015-2020.
(Additional reporting by Alexander Cornwell in Jerusalem, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
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