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BEIJING — A senior Canadian government official says Prime Minister Mark Carney has been asked by U.S. President Donald Trump to join the “Board of Peace” tasked with supporting the administration, reconstruction and economic recovery of Gaza.
Carney’s name was not among the initial list of executive board members, released by the White House Friday, which included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair and Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East.
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But the White House said additional members would be named in the coming weeks.
The Canadian government official, who spoke on background with reporters travelling with Carney on his trip to China, said an invitation from Trump to join the board arrived Thursday, as the prime minister was in Beijing to meet with Chinese leaders including President Xi Jinping.
The official said Carney will accept the offer.
The Board of Peace is part of the Trump-brokered peace plan that saw a ceasefire take hold between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
When it was first made public in September, Carney called the peace plan “historic” and urged all parties to make it work.
Israeli troops withdrew from parts of Gaza after the ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10, while thousands of displaced Palestinians have returned to what is left of their homes.
The White House announcement came after the Palestinian committee set to govern the territory under U.S. supervision met for the first time in Cairo.
The committee’s leader, Ali Shaath, an engineer and former Palestinian Authority official from Gaza, pledged to get to work quickly to improve conditions. He expects reconstruction and recovery to take about three years and plans to focus first on immediate needs, including shelter.
“The Palestinian people were looking forward to this committee, its establishment and its work to rescue them,” Shaath said after the meeting in a television interview with Egypt’s state-owned Al-Qahera News.
Trump supports the group’s efforts to govern Gaza after the two-year war between Israel and Hamas.
There will be a number of huge challenges going forward, including the deployment of an international security force to supervise the ceasefire deal and the difficult process of disarming Hamas.
Under Trump’s plan, Shaath’s technocratic committee will run day-to-day affairs in Gaza under the oversight of the Board of Peace.
The White House statement said the executive board will work to carry out the vision of the Board of Peace, with each member overseeing a specific issue, including governance capacity-building, regional relations, reconstruction, investment attraction, large-scale funding, and capital mobilization.
It is not known what role Carney has been asked to take on.
— with files from Mia Rabson and The Associated Press
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