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Check out @ecfr.eu 's updated Mapping Palestinian Politics project with profiles of Fatah's key power brokers and institutions following its 8th General Congress ecfr.eu/special/mapp...

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Abbas was 'relected' as Fatah Chairman based on crowd applause. When all the votes for the Central Committee were counted, Marwan Barghouti came out on top. Mahmoud Abbas' son, Yasser, was also given a top position, along with intel chief Majed Faraj. Veterans such as Rawhi Fattouh crashed out.

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Amongst the 2k+ Fatah members invited were hundreds of active and retired members of the PA's security forces (including top security leaders). Also invited: Ali Shaath, the head of Gaza's NCAG. Excluded was Abbas rival Mohammad Dahlan and his wing of the Fatah party -- despite Egyptian lobbying.

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Hugh Lovatt @hlovatt.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

On 14 May, President Abbas' party began its Eighth General Congress which to (re)elect Fatah's top leadership bodies - the Revolutionary Council and Central Committee. Its main internal battle lines were over patronage and power, not ideology or strategy.

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Trump's plan for Gaza would also: 👉create a "free market economy" tailored to foreign businesses 👉evict Palestinian coast communities to make way for 180 high-end tourist beachfront towers, presumably owned by real estate funds linked to BoP's Executive Board members

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Hugh Lovatt @hlovatt.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Trump's BoP plan for Gaza will 👉permanently erase towns such Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun, central Jabaliya and Rafah 👉destroy agricultural lands, universities, hospitals, historical sites 👉fragment it into 7 disconnected & heavily surveilled communities 👉Reduce Gaza's size through sterile buffer zones

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Hugh Lovatt @hlovatt.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

European and Arab states should not buy what Trump is selling. Instead, they should work together to develop and fund an alternative positive vision for Gaza’s future that ensures Palestinian political sovereignty and territorial unity remain at the forefront of rebuilding.

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Hugh Lovatt @hlovatt.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

New @ecfr.eu by @muhammadshehada.bsky.social: Trump’s dystopian economic plan will turn Gaza into a real-estate bonanza for oligarchs, obliterating its historic, cultural and social fabric, and herding Palestinian into heavily surveilled gated communities. t.co/d11lljJPfO

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Hugh Lovatt @hlovatt.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

Beth Oppenheim @ecfr.eu: Europeans should oppose renewed military intervention and press the case for diplomacy. Together with Arab states, they should play on Trump’s desire for deal-making to show him that more military action will not serve his agenda of regional peace. ecfr.eu/article/sell...

ecfr.eu

Selling peace to Trump: How Europe can prevent the next Middle East war – European Council on Foreign Relations

Israel is agitating for US strikes against Iran, while preparing for renewed war in Lebanon. Europeans should work to contain Trump and Netanyahu to prevent ren

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But the real winners would be private investment / real estate funds, incl those in Trump's Board of Peace: Jared Kushner/Affinity Partners; Marc Rowan/Apollo Global Management; & Yakir Gabay, a Cypriot-Israeli real estate billionaire As Trump would say "I have made a lot of people rich".

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/23/uae-funds-gaza-community

Many stand to make money through the Trump/BoP Gaza plan. Egyptian companies tied to the military will no doubt scoop up rubble clearance and reconstruction contracts. Gulf sovereign wealth funds may be involved. The UAE will reportedly bankroll the 1st gated community in Rafah. t.co/DdiH7giR3W

t.co

The final piece of the puzzle comes in March 2025 as part of Egyptian-led efforts to develop a post-war vision for Gaza reconstruction. While emphasising Palestinian rights, Egypt envisages a new urban landscape. Trump copy/pasted the Egyptian master plan in his Davos presentation.

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Aryeh Lightstone’s has been very active in Gaza planning through the CMCC. He was an advisor to US Ambassador David Friedman, is a staunch defender of Israeli settlement, and reportedly involved in establishing the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. He will have much influence in the BoP.

"Gated communities" are central to the Trump plan being pushed through the Board of Peace. Working through the CMCC, Aryeh Lightstone (now a senior BoP advisor) proposed a “Gaza First Planned Community” on the ruins of Rafah. This has become "New Rafah" in the Trump plan.

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In 2024, US-Israeli companies, like Moti Kahana's GDC, got involved in the Gaza war, proposing "secure Humanitarian Assistance" points (future GHF) + gated communities ("humanitarian bubbles") where Pals are subject to biometric checks and guarded by mercenaries in cooperation with the IDF.

Many of these original White House Gaza economic ideas were incorporated into Trump's 2020 highly detailed "Peace to Prosperity", including construction of several joint Palestinian-Israeli-Egyptian economic zones and international venture capital firm involvement.

Tellingly, the 2019 White House presentation was prepared by John Rader in the NSC & Executive Office of the President. Rader was a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution and is a senior counselor at Palantir Technologies.

The WH wanted its $15bn+ plan funded with private investment. There were sensible ideas: upgrading powerlines, solar panels, Gaza Marine gas, wastewater treatment, West Bank link, etc. But crazy stuff was already creeping in such as an "Abraham Path" tourism corridor via Gaza from Syria to Egypt.

ECFR @ecfr.eu · 23/01/2026

Trump's economic development plan for New Gaza can be traced back to his first presidency. It also includes ideas from US-Israeli security companies & Egypt. Mega🧵🧵 In 2019, the White House developed a 21-slide PPT presentation with ideas to support Gaza's economic future.

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Reposted by Hugh Lovatt

@hlovatt.bsky.social outlines a Board of Peace structure proposed by Trump in Davos. "The mixture of private investment funds with American power and geopolitics, combined with likely opaque decision-making and is a recipe for kleptocratic oligarchy." 📌 Check out more: bit.ly/4rarkvA

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Hugh Lovatt @hlovatt.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

My longer read for @ecfr.eu on what Trump's Board of Peace means for Gaza, Europe's quest for strategic autonomy, and the future of the global order: ecfr.eu/article/welc...

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Reposted by Hugh Lovatt

Bitte Hammargren @bitteham.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

Canada’s prime minister on the rupture of the old world order and the need of a new values-based realism: “The powerful have their power. But we have something too – the capacity to stop pretending, to name reality, to build our strength at home, and to act together.” www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/spee...

pm.gc.ca

“Principled and pragmatic: Canada’s path” Prime Minister Carney addresses the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting

Thank you, Larry.It’s a pleasure – and a duty – to be with you at this turning point for Canada and for the world.Today, I’ll talk about the rupture in the world order, the end of a nice story, and th...

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Reposted by Hugh Lovatt

ECFR MENA @ecfrmena.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

Members of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), which will report to the Board of Peace via High Representative Nikolay Mladenov, were announced last week. For a full breakdown, visit @ecfr.eu's Mapping Palestinian Politics project 👇 ecfr.eu/special/mapp...

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Being relevant viz Gaza does not mean toeing the US line, but making real commitments to empower the Palestinian National Committee, provide funding & support to the ISF (subject to agreement on its mandate & C2). This would actually give Europe real influence with Trump.

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BoP Inc is a Trump vanity project that has nothing to do with Gaza. But Europeans should still engage with its subsidiary Gaza Executive Committee which is aligned with UNSCR 2803 and where there is strong European representation through Nikolay Mladenov, Tony Blair & Sigrid Kaag.

In any case, not joining the BoP does not mean marginalisation. Europeans have plenty of fora to engage with the US and better advance their global agendas (UN, G7, etc). As the liberal order frays, it is important to keep these multilateral mechanisms alive and relevant.

At the very least European states should condition their participation in the Board of Peace on Trump dropping his territorial demands towards Greenland, ending his trade tariffs, and aligning on Ukrainian security.

Currying Trump's favour by joining the BoP by itself is also unlikely to fundamentally change US policy viz Greenland, Ukraine, European security, tariffs, etc. If anything, it may re-inforce Trump's view that Europeans are weak an will fall in line with him.

By buying into the BoP, European countries will be legitimising an illiberal Trumpian order that is increasingly at odds with their own world vision and national interests; while further eroding their own strategic autonomy and geopolitical ambitions at a time of deepening global crisis.

a man in a suit and tie is sitting in a chair and says you 're fired .

Europeans are unlikely to have much agency on Trump's Board where they will have to compete against the likes of Argentina, Israel, the UAE, Belarus, and each other, for the President's favour to avoid being humiliated and fired as if they were in an episode of the Apprentice.

media.tenor.com

ALT: a man in a suit and tie is sitting in a chair and says you 're fired .

With major Arab and Muslim states backing the BoP, Europeans are now grappling with the dilemma of whether to join, given concerns over its undermining of the UN and issues with its mandate/scope; vs the desire to get the US back onside, avoid tariffs, stay in the mix, etc. This is a false choice.🧵

Richard Burden @richardburden.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

Reposted by Hugh Lovatt

Trump’s Board of Peace violates the Palestinians’ right to sovereignty in their own land. But it’s not really about Gaza at all . It is about Trump giving himself imperial power to replace the UN globally with his hand-picked friends and family, to make money and to even choose his own successor

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Of course, Trump is unlikely to succeed in replacing the UN with a Trumpian order bound to himself, even without his Anschluss of Greenland. But his demolishment of the current international system, for all its faults, risks leaving us little to cling to when he is gone...

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All of this further shows how short-sighted the European and Arab decision to legitimise the Board of Peace through UNSCR 2803 was. At the time, European governments were very aware of the legal issues and lack of clarity on its mandate. Short termism won the day. And this is now the consequence.

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The Board of Peace has a bearing on other conflicts. It is mentioned in a future Ukraine-Russia ceasefire deal (art. 27) & could be expanded to Venezuela, Greenland, Iran... Based on its current charter, it would provide cover for US control (including viz natural resources).

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* The argument can be made that the BoP cannot go against int. law or Palestinian sovereignty. That is increasingly a theoretical rather that practical constraint. The bigger check is the extent to which Arab (& European) states buy into this, along with Hamas' own effective control on the ground.

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What does this mean for Gaza? Trump has long said the US will take over and own Gaza. Practically speaking, this what he has done. Through the BoP (which the UN Security Council endorsed!) Trump has full international decision making authority over Gaza & its Palestinian admin*

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Article 2.3: Membership [of the Board of Peace] shall terminate upon the earlier of:...(iii) a removal decision by the Chairman, subject to a veto by a two-thirds majority of Member States* (*securing 2/3 against the US is a high bar to reach for any blocking majority)

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Article 3.1.e: "Decisions shall be made by a majority of the [Board of Peace] Member States present and voting, --> subject to the approval of the Chairman"

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While the Board of Peace's charter spells out rules of procedure for decision making by member states, these decisions must be approved by Trump as the Board's Chairman. Trump also has the power to dismiss members and "exclusive authority to create, modify, or dissolve subsidiary entities"

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Hugh Lovatt @hlovatt.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

My best effort at understanding Trump's Board of Peace and its constituent parts. This is the Trump Organisation that the UK, Europe and Arab countries are being asked to buy into as an alternative to the UN. Understandably, many are hesitant.

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Adnan Abu Warda, Justice Commissioner, was appointed by President Abbas in 2019 to serve as a judge on the Palestinian Authority’s Supreme Constitutional Court. While Rami Tawfiq Helles, in charge of religious affairs, is clearly a strong supporter of Abbas.

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Hugh Lovatt @hlovatt.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

While Israel did not want the NCAG to have any links to the PA, several of its members are of the PA. Maj Gen Sami Nasman, with the 'interior' portfolio, was a Fatah activist wanted by Israel during the 1st Intifada, and now a veteran of the PA's General Intelligence Service.

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Hugh Lovatt @hlovatt.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

What to make of the Palestinian National Committee for the Administration of Gaza? Its members are technocrats through and through drawing from the business, academic and NGO sectors, and the PA administration. Many come from notable Gazan families. t.co/AKofZ3qvR7

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Reposted by Hugh Lovatt

Ulrike Franke @rikefranke.eu · 17/01/2026

“Palantir is working on a tool for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that populates a map with potential deportation targets, brings up a dossier on each person, and provides a “confidence score” on the person’s current address,”

eff.org

Report: ICE Using Palantir Tool That Feeds On Medicaid Data

ICE is using a Palantir tool that uses Medicaid and other government data to stalk people for arrest. This is exactly the kind of data privacy abuse that EFF has been warning about.

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Important to underscore that Israel has yet to fully adhere to its *Phase 1* commitments, including increasing aid flows to 600 trucks/day (currently +-250) and ceasing its attacks on Palestinians and destruction of Gaza.

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Critical to Phase 2 is also deploying an International Stabilisation Force (clarity on the mandate is needed before countries will contribute) And a pragmatic/phased approach to disarming Palestinian groups (focussing on offensive weapons) that is contingent on Israel's withdrawal to Gaza's borders

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Other Qs: Will the NCAG be allowed into Gaza (already some members held up at West Bank Allenby Crossing) & to administer the east / Red Zone (Israel says focus should be on Israeli-controlled west / Green Zone) where there are no Palestinians (except proxies); and who will its civil servants be?

More important than the names imo, is the relation between the Palestinian NCAG and the international executive committee / BoP. Will it be a quisling body suffering constant intervention (incl by Lightstone, Blair etc) or empowered to run Gaza and assert Palestinian agency?