Palestine Slams Trump's Peace Board Snub as "Black Comedy"

Responding to a question by ANI on the exclusion of Palestinian leadership from the initiative, Abu Shawesh contrasted the absence of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas with the reported inclusion of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"The misery, the irony of the issue, the black comedy here, when the fugitive from justice - the Israeli Prime Minister, the one who is wanted to the International Criminal Court is being invited to be member of the Board of Peace, the one who conducted two years of continuous massacres is invited to be a member of the Peace while President Abbas, the one who is day and night calling for peace, for the two states solution, for the applying of the adopted resolution is not invited. This is a misery. This is a black comedy. At least from our point of view, this is not a positive indicator when again and again, the fugitive from justice, the Israeli Prime Minister, the one who's responsible for killing 71,500 innocent Palestinians to be invited to be a member of this Board of Peace, while the President Abbas, the one who signed Oslo Accords, could not be invited," he told ANI.

The proposed Board of Peace is part of broader diplomatic efforts announced by the US administration, though its structure, membership, and mandate remain unclear. Palestinian officials have repeatedly stressed that any credible peace initiative must include Palestinian representation and be rooted in international law and existing UN resolutions.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday signed the charter to formally launch his "Board of Peace" initiative at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, describing it as a major step towards global conflict resolution.

Calling it a "very exciting day, long in the making", Trump said, "We're going to have peace in the world," and added, "And we're all stars."

- ANI