by IWU-FI
20 February 2026. On 19 February, Donald Trump inaugurated the Board of Peace. Alongside 27 heads of state from various countries around the world, the far-right leader of American imperialism held a press conference to announce the first steps in his objective to colonise Gaza.
Trump announced that the United States will invest an initial $10 billion to launch the colossal projects aimed at transforming Gaza into a luxury tourist zone, serving the interests of large transnational real estate companies by building 200 luxury towers and opening areas for agricultural and industrial investment.
Trump is not acting alone. His imperialist and colonising plan is supported by other countries and far-right governments, such as Javier Milei, who offered to send Argentina’s White Helmets to collaborate with the military force seeking to control the Gaza Strip. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Paraguayan President Santiago Peña were also present.
Other countries, including Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, and Kuwait, offered an additional $7 billion to sustain Donald Trump’s whims and his deceitful claims of peace-making, with the goal of dividing up the Gaza Strip among large investors. The presence of FIFA President Gianni Infantino was particularly noteworthy; he also joined the investment initiative, announcing a $75 million contribution to support Trump under the false pretence of building a 20,000-seat stadium and a soccer academy in Gaza.
A Pharaonic Announcement with Feet of Clay
The Peace Council’s inauguration occurred in true Trumpian style. Surrounded by sycophants dancing and singing to pop music, he delivered bombastic, mendacious declarations with which he seeks to gain political momentum to discipline his current and former partners in his new imperialist counteroffensive.
Despite the apparent grandiloquence, Trump is in trouble, and his plans have feet of clay. Most countries in the world have not taken part in the initiative, protests against it are growing in the United States, and international solidarity with Palestine is regaining strength.
The growing economic, social, and political crisis of the deteriorating European Union has, so far, prevented its main governments from endorsing the Peace Council, as they prefer to continue protecting the weakened UN Security Council, which has already approved Resolution 2803 (2025) to colonise Gaza. Meloni only registered as an “observer.” Several countries, including France, Spain, and Ireland, have questioned the European Commissioner for the Mediterranean, Dubravka Šuica, at the Peace Board meeting. Šuica justified her attendance as a matter of “international courtesy,” asserting that “our part in the meeting does not make us members of the Peace Board.”
Israel, despite participating in the meeting, has stated that the current moment is not one of reconstruction. Netanyahu maintains that his primary aim is the destruction of Hamas and the resistance organisations, stating that “there will be no reconstruction of Gaza before the demilitarisation of Gaza.” An objective they have so far failed to achieve.
The massive mobilisations in the United States and the Epstein files scandal, which implicates Trump and other powerful figures like Prince Andrew of Great Britain in the most atrocious sex crimes against minors, reveals the nauseating morality of big capitalism and have triggered a political crisis for the Trump administration. This crisis has manifested itself in his declining popularity. Republicans are being crushed in local elections, raising the possibility of a defeat in the midterm elections next November. The massive mobilisations, the largest in US history, have forced Trump to withdraw ICE forces from Minneapolis after a general strike and large-scale popular actions nationwide, resulting in a defeat for his repressive policies.
The mobilisation for Palestine is regaining the Initiative
Globally, mobilisations to support Palestine are regaining momentum as Israel shows, through intensifying its attacks, that it is losing ground. The fragile and piecemeal ceasefire has not brought peace to Gaza. Israel’s attacks signal a loss of ground in Palestine, and the conflict has killed more than 75,000 people. Evidence proves Israel used thermobaric bombs to vaporise the bodies of thousands of murdered Palestinians. Refugee camps are facing more frequent bombings, and nearly 600 people have died since the ceasefire started in October 2025. The Israeli parliament has passed laws to further the annexation of the West Bank and develop a new and criminal offensive alongside militarised settlers, and Ben Gvir is pushing for the death penalty for the over 9,000 Palestinian political prisoners incarcerated in Israel.
People around the world have condemned all these actions, and protests in various countries are regaining momentum. The festival for Palestine held in Barcelona, featuring various artistic figures, drew a massive crowd. Expressions of solidarity from artists and cultural figures have spread to numerous festivals. Large-scale mobilisations in various Australian cities shows the world’s people’s sympathy with the Palestinian resistance. Athlete and pro-Palestinian activist Grace Tame revived the cry to “globalise the intifada” at a Sydney event during the first week of February, coinciding with Israeli President Yitzhak Herzog’s visit. The CALP collective and the USB Union complemented these significant actions by carrying out a port strike and blockades on 6 February at several Mediterranean ports. Through these actions, the world shows its solidarity with the Palestinian people and denounces the complicity of governments in the genocide perpetrated by Israel.
From the International Workers’ Unity – Fourth International (IWU-FI), we support these and other actions undertaken by the people of the world to condemn the genocide. We are part of the global movement in solidarity with Gaza and are preparing to take part in the new Sumud Global Flotilla, which will depart again for Gaza in mid-April to break the blockade. We call on the peoples of the world, labour unions, grassroots organisations, student, environmental, women, and LGBTQ+ movements, and all those who identify as democratic, to support the global mobilisation to condemn the Trump Peace Council and prevent the occupation of Gaza. Out with all attempts at international troops in Gaza! Let us fight against the genocide perpetrated by Netanyahu and Israel and to deepen international solidarity for the freedom of political prisoners, to condemn the plan for new settlements in the West Bank, and to secure the urgent entry of humanitarian aid and the opening of the Rafah crossing.
For the immediate withdrawal of all Israeli troops from Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, and Lebanon, we reject the ethnic cleansing in Palestine and the plans of Trump and Netanyahu to turn Gaza into a resort for the world’s millionaires!
Stop Zionist apartheid! For a single, secular, democratic, and non-racist Palestine! Free Palestine from the river to the sea!
International Workers’ Unity – Fourth International (IWU-FI)
20 February 2026
