Donald Trump built his public brand on the idea of dealmaking — the ability to bring parties to the table, find the deal that works for everyone, and close it. His Board of Peace is the application of that brand to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, one of the most complex and emotionally charged diplomatic challenges in the world. As the board held its first meeting Thursday, the question was whether the art of the deal can survive contact with Gaza’s realities.
Trump’s dealmaking approach tends to focus on finding the arrangement that gives all parties enough of what they want to accept the deal — even if none gets everything it wants. Applied to Gaza, this might mean Hamas accepting a form of weapons management short of full disarmament, Israel accepting some reconstruction beginning before full demilitarization, and Arab members accepting Israeli security operations in exchange for humanitarian improvements.
The challenge is that the gaps between what the parties will accept are enormous. Israel wants complete Hamas disarmament before reconstruction begins. Hamas wants guarantees of Palestinian statehood before fully disarming. Arab members want Israeli withdrawal alongside Hamas disarmament. Palestinians were excluded from the conversation entirely. These are not negotiating positions that narrow easily toward a deal.
Trump claimed this week that member countries had pledged $5 billion for reconstruction — a statement designed to build momentum, create facts, and signal progress. But $5 billion against a $70 billion need, with no public documentation, is less a deal than an aspiration. The gap between announcement and implementation is exactly where previous peace efforts have failed.
The Board of Peace’s first meeting Thursday is the opening scene of what may be Trump’s most consequential diplomatic drama. Whether he can close this deal — the one that has defied everyone who has tried before him — is the defining question of his Middle East legacy.
