WEEKLY UPDATE - 02.20.2026

Trump’s Board of Peace hold inaugural meeting amid doubts

US President Donald Trump convened the first meeting of his Board of Peace on Thursday as doubts continue to swirl over its viability. Consisting of 27 countries including regional powers like Israel, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt, the group is tasked with establishing a durable peace between Gaza and Israel. President Trump announced following the first meeting that the board had received more than $6.5 billion in financial commitments from members at the time. He also said that the US would pay $10 billion over ten years to the effort. A joint report issued on Wednesday by the World Bank, UN, and European Union estimated that Gaza’s recovery efforts would cost roughly $53 billion.

Notably absent from Trump’s board, were many prominent US allies including Canada, the UK, France. More significantly is the lack of Palestinian representation. The lone Palestinian representative at the meeting was Ali Shaath, a relatively unknown technocrat tapped to head the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza. Palestinian-American activist Hani Almadhoun criticized the meeting’s lack of serious Palestinian representation calling it a “farce” adding “It’s like trying to have a wedding without a bride.” Dan Shapiro, a former US Ambassador to Israel, also criticized the Board of Peace noting both the lack of both Palestinian and female representation on the panel and arguing the current proposals that call for the disarmament of Hamas and current reconstruction plan are not realistic and fail to properly understand the immensity of the task at hand.

Around the Region

• North Africa:

  • A Tunisian court sentenced Ahmad Saidani to an eight month sentence over social media posts he made insulting Tunisian President Kais Saïed. Saidani, a Tunisian lawmaker, called Saïed the “supreme commander of sewage” in a post on social media prompting his arrest earlier this month. Saidani is the latest in a line of opposition politicians to be sentenced to prison over their vocal criticism of the current Tunisian government.

  • A traffic accident near Egypt’s Port Said resulted in 18 deaths and several more injuries. A pick-up truck and two larger cargo trucks were involved in the accident. Many of those who died in the accident were fishermen being transported to work in the pick-up truck.

• The Gulf:

  • Germany began to draw down its military foot print in Iraq amid growing tensions between the US and Iran. Earlier this week the German military transferred dozens of troops currently deployed to a base near Erbil as part of international mission training Iraqi forces. A skeleton force remained behind to maintain the base at this time.

  • On Thursday, Iran and Russia carried out joint-military drills in the Gulf of Oman amid growing speculation that US will carry out strikes on Iran in the coming weeks. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei issued a veiled threat to sink a US aircraft carrier on Wednesday. On Thursday, President Trump warned Iran that it had 10-15 days to reach a deal if it wished to avoid strikes.

• The Levant:

  • The US military is in the process of withdrawing all of its troops from Syria according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. The report said that the withdrawal will take place over the next two months and is not related to the current tensions with Iran and realignment of weapons systems in the region. The report comes on the heels of the transfer of between collapse of the US’ primary security partner the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). In recent weeks the US military transferred between 5,000-7,000 ISIS detainees from Syria to Iraq. In the chaos surrounding the collapse of the SDF and the Syrian government assuming control of northeast Syria, perhaps thousands of detainees left the al-Hol camp in northeast Syria. The camp contained the families of thousands of ISIS fighters. According to Al Jazeera, some of the camp’s occupants were moved to the Idlib province. Others were seen walking along roads “begging” for help to return to their homes.

  • Responding to recent tax hikes, protesters in Lebanon’s capital blocked main roads and chanted slogans against the government on Tuesday. The previous day, the Lebanese cabinet approved several new tax hikes including on fuel sparking anger among the city’s taxi drivers. Frustrations in Lebanon run high as the government tries to manage several crisis including high inflation, the disarmament of Hezbollah, and Israel’s continued airstrikes in the south. As the Lebanese government announced that it was entering the second-stage in its plan to disarm Hezbollah, Israel carried out strikes across southern Lebanon on Thursday. According to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), the strikes targeted a Hezbollah weapons depot and other weapons systems.

Recommended:

• “Beirut’s History is being Repaved” New Lines Magazine

• “Syria and the Future of Islamism” Protean View

• “Ramadan Mubarak: Photo Essay” The Associated Press