President Trump will convene the first meeting of his Board of Peace on February 19 in Washington — a gathering aimed at raising money for the reconstruction of Gaza and advancing the most ambitious diplomatic architecture any American president has attempted in a generation. The venue: the U.S. Institute of Peace, now renamed the Donald J. Trump U.S. Institute of Peace, after the administration seized the facility last year and fired almost all of its staff.

Invitations went out late Friday. By Saturday, the confirmations were already rolling in.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán didn't wait for a press release. According to the Daily Mail, he told a campaign crowd in Szombathely exactly what was happening:

"I got an invitation: two weeks from now we will meet again in Washington, because the Board of Peace, the peace body, will have an inaugural meeting."

One administration official described the expected turnout as "robust." More than 20 countries have already signed the Board of Peace charter — among them Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Turkey, Indonesia, Pakistan, Argentina, and Hungary. That's a coalition that spans continents, civilizations, and — notably — both sides of the Sunni-Shia divide.

From Davos to Washington

The Board of Peace was first proposed last September as a central pillar of Trump's 20-point plan for long-term peace in Gaza. On January 15, Trump announced the formal creation of Truth Social. A week later, he hosted a signing ceremony for the founding charter on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, where leaders and foreign ministers from 19 countries put pen to paper alongside the United States.

The charter establishes Trump as chairman of the board with veto power over key decisions. Member states serve terms of no more than three years — unless they contribute more than $1 billion, which earns permanent membership. Trump holds the exclusive authority to invite countries to join, to create or dissolve subsidiary entities, and to approve all revisions to the charter.

That's not a ceremonial title. That's operational control.

The charter states the board's mission is to "secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict" — a mandate far broader than Gaza alone. The February 19 meeting, however, will center on the immediate question: funding Gaza's reconstruction in the wake of the cease-fire negotiated last fall by Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, and the United States.

Who showed up — and who didn't

The member list tells its own story. Around two dozen countries have signed the charter, including major Gulf states, Central Asian nations like Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Uzbekistan, and Southeast Asian members like Indonesia and Vietnam. The Balkans are represented by Kosovo, Albania, and Bulgaria. Latin America by Argentina and Paraguay.

Then there's the other list — the countries that stayed home.

France said the charter was "incompatible" with its international commitments. The UK, Germany, Italy, and Canada also declined or failed to join. That's the entire G7 minus the United States and Japan, sitting on the sidelines while Trump assembles a parallel diplomatic structure with nations that actually have leverage in conflict zones.

The Western European absence is revealing. These are the same governments that have spent decades funneling billions into UN peacekeeping operations with little to show for it. Now, when a new framework emerges — one that demands financial commitment and grants decision-making authority to the convener — they balk. The concern isn't about peace. It's about the control they no longer hold.

Netanyahu heads to Washington

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also headed to Washington, scheduled to meet Trump separately. His office stated the visit would focus on "negotiations with Iran" — specifically, limiting ballistic missiles and ending support for what Israel calls the Iranian axis.

Netanyahu accepted Trump's invitation to join the Board of Peace, though Israel has not formally signed the charter. He also notably skipped the Davos signing ceremony, citing concerns over potential arrest by Swiss authorities related to the ICC warrant.

The timing is deliberate. By meeting Trump ahead of the February 19 gathering, Netanyahu can coordinate on Iran policy without being folded into the multilateral dynamics of the Board of Peace session itself. It's a two-track approach: bilateral on security, multilateral on reconstruction.

The building itself is the message

Holding the inaugural meeting at the renamed U.S. Institute of Peace is not incidental. The administration seized the building and cleared out the old guard — a think tank that had become, like so many Washington institutions, a sinecure for credentialed inertia. A federal judge initially ruled the takeover illegal, but the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision in the administration's favor.

Now the building will host something its former occupants never managed to produce: an actual diplomatic initiative with real money, real members, and real deadlines.

Trump referenced the Board of Peace in January, noting that "the United Nations never helped" him and suggesting the new body "might" replace the UN. Whether that's aspiration or leverage, the signal to Turtle Bay is unmistakable. The UN's monopoly on multilateral peace architecture is being contested — not with speeches, but with a charter, a membership roster, and a billion-dollar entry fee.

What February 19 will test

The Washington meeting will reveal whether this coalition can move from signatures to substance. Reconstruction money for Gaza is the immediate deliverable. But the broader question is whether a Trump-chaired body with veto authority, permanent seats for major donors, and a mandate that extends beyond any single conflict can function as a durable institution.

The charter suggests Trump intends exactly that. His chairmanship is structured independently of his presidency, and he has indicated he wants to remain chairman beyond his time in office. That's a man building something he expects to outlast an administration.

Twenty-five nations out of sixty-two invited have signed on. That's a 40% conversion rate in under a month — for a body that demands real financial commitments, not just communiqué language. Western Europe can sit this one out. The nations that actually border conflict zones are already at the table.

On February 19, the table gets its first real meeting. The chairs won't be empty.