Trump’s Board of Peace: What Happens If It Fails?

Donald Trump’s Board of Peace held its first meeting Thursday in Washington. The ambitions are clear. The obstacles are real. But it is worth asking a question that the board’s organizers would prefer not to dwell on: what happens if it fails?
Failure could take several forms. The most immediate would be a collapse of the ceasefire — a resumption of major military operations that would end the hostage deal, reverse the aid increases, and plunge Gaza back into devastating warfare. With Hamas not yet disarmed, Israeli forces still present, and daily strikes continuing, the conditions for such a collapse remain present.
A softer form of failure would be stalemate — the board continuing to meet and make announcements while conditions on the ground in Gaza stagnate. Two million people would remain in humanitarian deprivation. The governance transition would remain frozen. Reconstruction would not begin. The board would gradually lose credibility and relevance.
A third form of failure would be institutional fracture — key members withdrawing from the board as their conditions are not met. Arab and Muslim nations frustrated by Israel’s continued strikes might reduce their participation. Israel might object to board members it perceives as too sympathetic to Hamas. The coalition could splinter without formally dissolving.
If the board fails, the consequences extend beyond Gaza. Trump’s challenge to the UN Security Council would be discredited. His claim to be a unique dealmaker capable of solving conflicts that conventional diplomacy cannot would be damaged. The alternative international order he is attempting to construct around his own leadership would lose a central pillar.
The stakes, in other words, are high — not just for the people of Gaza, but for Trump’s broader foreign policy vision and his legacy.