Huckabee Expresses Doubt About Viability Of Board Of Peace Plans

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee is questioning whether the Board of Peace can deliver on President Donald Trump’s peace plan for Gaza without more planning and resources from the U.S. government, according to a cable the embassy sent to State Department leadership Thursday that was obtained by POLITICO.

The cable, which has not been previously reported, was signed by Huckabee and voiced concern that neither the organization nor the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem have the personnel to move forward with plans to disarm and rebuild the Palestinian enclave.

Huckabee’s questions focus on whether the main hub set up to coordinate between the U.S., Israel and international partners — the International Gaza Support Center — will be able to sustain operations after the Pentagon draws down its personnel as planned over the next year, according to the cable. The current plan is for civilians to take over those jobs, the cable notes.

“Embassy Jerusalem is not currently staffed to assume these roles, but can be if it has an idea of the human, financial and logistical resources that will be needed,” he wrote. “The BoP is working to increase staff but its ability to cover all functions at the IGSC remains unclear.”

The Board of Peace, created by Trump and launched in February, has a U.N. mandate to set up and coordinate funding for Gaza’s reconstruction, and Europeans who refused to join the board have agreed to align their work with it. However, more than a year after a ceasefire agreement, Israeli strikes continue, and the majority of Palestinians remain displaced from the homes Israel destroyed during its response to the October 2023 Hamas attacks.

As recently as two weeks ago, Huckabee told Fox News that the Board of Peace “could be moving forward progressively, but the only reason that there’s any slowdown is because of Hamas.” In particular, he said on Fox that Hamas had not followed through on its commitment to disarm.

The International Gaza Support Center, which is led by the U.S. and based in Israel, is expected to play a key role in the International Stabilization Force that the Board of Peace plans to deploy to the Gaza Strip.

In the cable, marked “sensitive but unclassified,” Huckabee argued that civilians leading the effort at the coordination center “could complicate the coordination dynamic” with the Israeli military, “especially on the intelligence-sharing front.”

“How will roles and responsibilities shift to State and the BoP as DoW reduces its presence?” he asked State to answer. “How will we keep critical IGSC workstreams running and what conditions should be met before this transition begins?”

Huckabee also noted that the IGSC is reorganizing after the Board of Peace took over its financing Oct. 11. The Board of Peace didn’t confirm the reorganization. The hub was launched last year by U.S. Central Command as the Civil-Military Coordination Center and later rebranded.

The Board of Peace said in a statement that it was not familiar with the cable and that it is “confident in the highly detailed plans that have been developed for improved humanitarian assistance, security, governance, the rule of law, infrastructure development, and reconstruction in Gaza. Our capacities and systems in place are strong and ready for implementation.”

The Pentagon referred questions to the State Department, which declined to comment.

POLITICO read excerpts of the cable in an interview to Thomas Warrick, who served as deputy assistant secretary for counterterrorism policy at the Department of Homeland Security.

“The embassy is clearly pressing Washington for clarity and additional resources in order to make the Trump plan work,” he said. “Hamas is getting stronger, and it’s looking like the Board of Peace is too slow to get on the ground in Gaza with a plan that will get results.”

The cable also suggests that the Palestinian technocratic body set up to govern the strip, called the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, could be undermined by delays in reconstruction in the Gaza Strip.

“Humanitarian assistance should surge in line with NCAG and administration priorities. It should also complement longer-term reconstruction efforts to prevent backsliding and demonstrate the NCAG's credibility,” Huckabee wrote, adding that the U.S. will press foreign donors to “do their fair share to address humanitarian needs.”

The cable comes as the Gaza Strip remains volatile. On Thursday, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported the Israeli military presented U.S. Army officers with intelligence concluding Hamas was preparing for renewed fighting in the Gaza Strip and could only be disarmed by a return to war. Earlier this month, The Guardian reported that Israel was blocking the construction of a base in Gaza that would house international troops intended to stabilize the territory.

The Israeli military didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.