As the centre of gravity in world politics shifts, Istanbul has become a focal meeting point for debates on the emerging global order. Leading diplomats, academics, security experts, and former military officials from a wide geography extending from Washington to Beijing, Moscow to Tehran, Berlin to Cairo, and New Delhi to Rome gathered at the East-West Forum. Bringing together participants from 30 countries, the core message of the forum was clear: the Western-centric unipolar order is unravelling, and multipolarity has turned into an irreversible reality.

Held on 26 September at the Akatlar Cultural Centre, the East-West Forum, hosted by Harici Media in cooperation with the Berlin-based European Transcontinental Initiative (ETI), brought together prominent figures from different continents and across a wide range of political traditions in Istanbul. Attendees from Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and North America debated the historic shift in the global balance of power, the changing character of warfare, and the new security architecture over two days.

The predominant assessment at the forum, which featured experts from 30 countries, was that the world is rapidly moving away from the Western-centric order established after the Cold War, and that new power centres have become permanent fixtures of the global system. Participants stressed that proxy wars have lowered the threshold for direct conflict between great powers, that the risk of nuclear escalation has returned to the centre of global politics, and that artificial intelligence-enabled warfare technologies are blurring the boundaries of armed conflict.

Consequently, the East-West Forum emerged not merely as a conference discussing current crises, but with the ambition of serving as a new international platform where different centres directly shape the principles and balances of power underpinning the changing world order.

Opening the conference, Harici Media Editor-in-Chief Tunc Akkoc said the forum aims to bring disparate political and intellectual traditions together on a foundation of permanent dialogue.

“Today, together, we are making a new start,” Akkoc said. “We are establishing a platform where individuals with diverse perspectives can meet and converse. We hope this inaugural gathering evolves into a tradition that grows stronger with every passing year.”

Guerot: Crisis on continent stems from unaccepted weakness

Delivering the opening address on behalf of the European Transcontinental Initiative (ETI), of which she is a co-founder, Prof. Dr. Ulrike Guerot emphasised that the global critical community must raise its voice at a juncture when the world stands on the brink of a third world war.

Invoking Immanuel Kant’s thesis on “Perpetual Peace” and the principle that “all human beings are born free and equal,” enshrined in the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and the United Nations Charter, Guerot stated that what is lacking in the 21st century is not resources or energy, but diplomacy, wisdom, political will, and love.

Contending that the social and peaceful European ideals of the Jacques Delors, Francois Mitterrand, and Helmut Kohl era have been distorted today, Guerot noted that she voices the sentiments of Europe’s silent majority, who do not want war with Russia and reject being sacrificed to US geostrategic interests.

Guerot, a German national, recalled the attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines, observing that the German public feels deep unease after its critical infrastructure was destroyed by a former ally while its own government remained silent.

Referencing the French poet Raymond Queneau, Guerot encapsulated the nihilism into which Europe has fallen:

“Europe is dangerous; yet it is dangerous not because of its strength, but because of a weakness it refuses to accept. It prefers to escalate war rather than confront its own political failure and guilt. As the European Transcontinental Initiative, we have two foundational mottos: a Europe beyond the European Union, and a Europe for a multipolar world. In this balance, Turkiye plays a pivotal role.”

Following her opening address, Guerot announced that the forum will convene regularly in Istanbul during the third week of September each year.

Following a address of thanks by Tunc Akkoc, the forum proceeded to its first plenary session, titled “The Transforming World: Multipolarity and the End of the Liberal Order.” Serving as moderator, Guerot opened the panel with a quotation from the newly published book “The End of the Liberal Order” by US academic Prof. Pilkington.

Guerot presented the following observation for discussion among the participants:

“Today, liberalism as an ideology is interpreted along American lines. That is, it is essentially defined through a specific variant of liberalism constructed over time in the US and developed particularly through that country’s ascendance in the post-Second World War era.”

Zhang: Five centuries of Western dominance have ended

Prof. Zhang Weiwei, Director of the China Institute at Fudan University and former interpreter to China’s historic leader Deng Xiaoping, asserted that the multipolar structure has been confirmed by economic data.

Noting that the aggregate economic size of the BRICS nations in gross domestic product based on purchasing power parity has surpassed that of the G7 nations, Zhang emphasised that this indicator proves the conclusion of five hundred years of Western dominance.

“In our intellectual framework, an actor is either a friend or a potential friend,” Zhang said. “The Western dichotomy of ‘you are either a friend or a foe,’ which drives the world toward catastrophe, has no place in our worldview. Chinese diplomacy shuns military coercion; it takes harmony over hegemony and equality over imposition as its basis.”

Diesen: By ceding sovereignty, Europe became a logistics base

Prof. Dr. Glenn Diesen of the University of South-Eastern Norway said that the undivided Pan-European security architecture promised by the 1990 Charter of Paris was deliberately sacrificed for the sake of NATO’s eastward expansion. Stating that this policy excluding Russia dragged the continent into a spiral of conflict, Diesen noted that the principle of the indivisibility of security was disregarded.

Observing that European capitals surrendered their strategic responsibilities to Washington, Diesen assessed: “This approach, which destroyed its own energy pipelines, endorsed sanctions that crippled its industry, and rejected diplomacy, ceased to make Europe a global actor and turned it into a transatlantic logistics base.”

Lieven: Rules-based order is a veil for US hegemony

Anatol Lieven, Director of the Eurasia Programme at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said the phrase “rules-based international order,” constantly repeated by Western governments, serves as a diplomatic veil concealing US hegemony. Lieven stated that the rules are set by Washington itself and breached by Washington whenever its interests dictate, adding that this arbitrariness erodes sovereign equality.

Prof. Jagannath Panda, Head of the Stockholm Centre for South Asian and Indo-Pacific Affairs, explained that the rise of Asian powers has shaken the representative legitimacy of the United Nations Security Council.

Noting that the exclusion of a power like India, with a population exceeding 1.5 billion, from permanent decision-making processes undermines the legitimacy of the entire system, Panda remarked that New Delhi retains its strategic autonomy and that Asian nations possess the diplomatic maturity to resolve their border disputes through direct negotiations.

Unal: Independent actors like Ankara are safety valves

Moderating the forum’s second session, titled “Escalation Out of Control: Preventing a Catastrophic World War, Peacefully Institutionalising a New Order Together,” Baskent University faculty member and Director of the Centre for New World Studies Prof. Dr. Hasan Unal stressed that the liquidation of diplomacy has brought global peace to a perilous threshold.

Stating that the polarisation between the West, the Global South, and BRICS has created uncontrolled escalation, Unal said middle powers like Turkiye play a vital role in maintaining equilibrium at a time when arms control treaties have lapsed and artificial intelligence-enabled systems are being deployed.

AI algorithms accelerate the risk of nuclear confrontation

Zhou Bo, Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University and a retired colonel, stated that unmanned systems and artificial intelligence algorithms have reduced decision-making windows to seconds, driving the risk of military miscalculation to a maximum and lowering the nuclear threshold.

Zhou said major powers must immediately agree on rules governing modern military technologies, warning that failure to do so will result in a dystopian catastrophe.

Retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel and Defence Priorities fellow Daniel Davis stated that the security bureaucracy in Washington has succumbed to the fallacy of viewing military power as the sole solution to every problem.

Davis noted that proxy wars stretching from Ukraine to the Middle East have brought nuclear powers close to direct confrontation, pointing out that a dynamic similar to the blind diplomatic deadlock preceding the First World War is unfolding.

Davis emphasised that the US defence industry expands its budget by continuously manufacturing new enemies, that unrestrained interventionism harms the American public, and that there must be a return to the sovereign boundaries set by the UN Charter.

European Parliament Member and former United Nations Assistant Secretary-General Michael von der Schulenburg said the European Union is being drawn into a dangerous trap of military escalation, with voices advocating peace negotiations being marginalised.

Stating that the Brussels bureaucracy is militarising the continent while ignoring the popular will, Schulenburg remarked that the principles of the UN Charter must be reinforced to serve as the main pillar of a multipolar world.

Shenderyuk-Zhidkov: Sanctions turned Russia towards the East

Alexander Shenderyuk-Zhidkov, representative of the Kaliningrad Region in the Russian Federation Council and First Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Budget and Financial Markets, stated that attempts to isolate Russia from the global economy have failed, with trade routes and financial payment channels redirecting toward Asia and the Global South.

Ali Asghar Soltanieh, former representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency and President of the Vienna International International Institute for Middle East Studies, emphasised that foreign military bases in the Middle East represent the primary source of instability. Stating that regional security cannot be constructed via foreign intervention, Soltanieh noted that on the foundation of diplomatic dialogue between Tehran and Riyadh, infrastructure projects such as a Mecca Joint Defence Agreement and shared water desalination facilities could be realised.

Roger Koeppel, publisher of the Swiss magazine Die Weltwoche and a former parliamentarian, criticised Switzerland’s participation in unilateral sanctions as detrimental to its historic neutrality, arguing that peace can be safeguarded through neutral mediation mechanisms rather than arms shipments.

Europe severed from its philosophical roots and sovereignty

Researcher Isabelle Casel moderated the third session, titled “Europe Beyond the EU and Its Philosophical Foundations: Atlanticism, Eurasia and Strategic Autonomy.” Philosopher of history Dr. Hauke Ritz said European civilisation has drifted from the ideals of humanism and the Enlightenment, surrendering to the absolute dominance of markets and technology.

Ritz noted that uncontrolled artificial intelligence and genetic engineering can be curbed only if Eastern wisdom converges with European humanism.

Economist Thomas Fazi argued that the European Union has dismantled the mixed-economy model based on the welfare state to serve capital dominance, with institutions centred in Brussels and Frankfurt transforming into oligarchic mechanisms that override democratic will.

Fazi stated that genuine strategic autonomy will become possible only when the state reclaims its economic sovereignty.

Prof. Dr. Dragana Mitrovic of the University of Belgrade emphasised that East Asia has become the focal point of global manufacturing and trade, with China’s Belt and Road Initiative linking to Europe via the Balkans, underscoring that Brussels must dismantle ideological barriers.

French analyst Georges Kuzmanovic said France has drifted from its Gaullist tradition of independence, becoming entirely reliant on US logistics in the defence domain.

He stated that Europe, having surrendered its data and communications infrastructure to US tech corporations, cannot make autonomous decisions without establishing digital sovereignty. Discussant Walter Komarek added that Eurasian energy pipelines and railway networks represent tangible guarantees of peace.

Shehada: Gaza heralds the rule-free warfare of the future

The final session of the forum, moderated by Dr. Pascal Lottaz, addressed regional proxy wars.

Gaza-born researcher and human rights advocate Muhammad Shehada stated that the destruction in the region exceeds the scope of a localised conflict, remarking: “The genocide in Gaza is not an isolated event. We serve as the canary in the coal mine, warning the entire world of who will come next and how future wars will be waged.”

Pointing out that artificial intelligence-driven targeting and surveillance systems in Gaza target the entire civilian population, Shehada said the Israeli military tracks cellular signals of young children to eliminate whole families.

Addressing double standards among Western governments, Shehada recalled a senior European official telling him: “In the morning we send food and bandages to the people of Gaza; in the afternoon we supply bombs to the Israelis to drop on civilian residential areas.”

Emeritus Professor Richard Sakwa of the University of Kent noted that contemporary crises stem from the unresolved contradictions of 1945, observing that the Second Cold War is far more dangerous because it lacks ideological clarity and rules.

Andrew Day, senior editor at The American Conservative, said the American public does not endorse the Washington elite’s endless military interventions, particularly war policies directed at Iran.

Prof. Abdullah Baabood, Chair at Waseda University, stated that Gulf nations can establish their own indigenous security framework without foreign intervention, adding that normalisation between Tehran and Riyadh constitutes a vital step toward that end.

East-West Forum adopts five core institutional resolutions

Following the conclusion of the forum, participants met at a working breakfast on the morning of 27 September and agreed to transform the initiative into a permanent international network. A five-point action plan was announced to the public:

First, the East-West Forum will convene regularly in Istanbul during the third week of September each year as a permanent council of ideas tracking and documenting the multipolar paradigm shift.

Second, conference proceedings and strategic reports will be compiled annually into books and distributed internationally under the leadership of Germany-based Westend Publishing House.

Third, specialised working groups convening on a quarterly basis will be established across the areas of security architecture, artificial intelligence governance, economic sovereignty, and diplomacy.

Fourth, the “EWF Network” will be launched, encompassing independent intellectuals, experts, and researchers who oppose unipolar approaches and military escalation.

Fifth, an “EWF Business Council” will be founded, bringing together productive sectors, economic actors, and independent commercial initiatives across the multipolar world.

Editor’s note: Renowned German political scientist Prof. Ulrike Guérot delivered the keynote address at the East-West Forum held in Istanbul on September 26-27, assessing the fault lines of global geopolitics. In this inaugural gathering, organized jointly by Harici Media and the European Transcontinental Initiative (ETI), Guérot called for peace, justice, and multipolarity in the face of the spiraling conflict looming over the world. Arguing that Europe’s current technocratic and Atlanticist orientation has severed the continent from its historical roots, the thinker stressed that an independent security architecture -one that does not exclude Russia- is essential.

***

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

Distinguished Guests,

Dear Participants,

It is my great honour and my genuine pleasure to welcome you, on behalf of the Turkish media platform Harici and the European Transcontinental Initiative, to the first Istanbul East-West Forum.

My warm thanks go to my committed colleague and friend Tunç Akkoç and to his entire team, who took the initiative to create this forum and to bring this new international format to life here in Istanbul — a city that has been, for centuries, the bridge between East and West.

With the East-West Forum, we want to build a platform for the global critical community. For all those who still believe in peace, at a moment when the world stands at the edge of a third world war. For all those who wish to shape the twenty-first century in the pursuit of peace, justice and equality for all people — as Immanuel Kant envisioned it in his essay on perpetual peace already. And for all those who still believe in the Charter of the United Nations, which preserves, like a jewel, the promise first declared in 1789: that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.

More than two centuries later, it is time to move closer to that goal. And the world of the twenty-first century has every resource it needs to do so.

What is missing

What is missing today is not energy. Not food. Not communication. Not resources. All of this exists.

Discourses of scarcity are neo-feudal discourses — the language of those who do not wish to share.

Buddhist, Muslim and Christian traditions all know a deeper truth: where there is abundance, abundance will grow. That is what we believe here in Istanbul — here, on the bridge, at the crossroads of cultures.

What is missing today is diplomacy. Wisdom. Political will. And love.

And we hope that this signal goes out from Istanbul today — into the world’s press, on the very day the UN General Assembly closes:

Yes, a different world order is possible.

Yes, US-hegemony can and must come to an end.

Yes, peace can be achieved.

Yes, global war can be avoided.

Yes, a multipolar world is emerging — and fortunately so.

Yes, the world will survive the end of what we used to call “the West.”

Yes, the so-called „rules-based order“ has proven hollow — and the international community can return to the rules of the UN Charter.

Today, we send these greetings from Istanbul to New York. We are here to think about the international order of the twenty-first century, and to search for alternatives to the status quo.

The state of the world

This will not be easy. The international order, as you all know, is in disarray.

Even as we speak, we are witnessing wars in the plural. Struggles over resources. The seizure of countries and territories. And, above all, a situation in Gaza that UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has called unbearable.

The world will not forget what Israel is doing there. And we all follow the case brought by South Africa before the International Court of Justice.

Let me quote Nelson Mandela: “We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”

Alongside these tectonic shifts in the international system, we are living through a change of paradigms on several levels at once.

There is the end of the liberal order.

There is artificial intelligence and robotics, which raise the question of the survival of our species, and which reveal the hubris of transhumanism — of homo deus.

And there is the ambition to conquer Mars, as though this earth, the one globe we all share, were not good enough for us — if only we took proper care of it. That is, why I am personally very sad that the Vatican, this year, finally could not send a representative to the East-West Forum, because Pope Leo XIV has put down inspiring thoughts on all this in his recent Encyclic Magnifica Humanitas.

A European voice

Now, as the person who has the honour of opening this first East-West Forum, allow me a few words as a European citizen.

Many years ago, I worked for Jacques Delors, President of the European Commission from 1985 to 1995 — a man who, together with François Mitterrand and Helmut Kohl, sought a peaceful, democratic and social European Union. Delors was a socialist, a Catholic and a trade unionist.

The Europe he imagined has today been distorted beyond recognition. And that is a tragedy — not only for Europe, but for the world.

I speak here for the many European citizens who do not want war with Russia. Who no longer wish to be instrumentalised for US-American geostrategic interests that are suicidal for the European continent. Who still hold to the vision codified in the Charter of Paris of 1990: a European security architecture with Russia.

Who still dream of a politically united Europe — not one highjacked by narrow or vengeful interests of a High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, that do not reflect the interests of 450 million European citizens. These 450 million are tired of ridiculous false flag operation like at Leipzig airport and the limpid effort to pull NATO countries into the Ukrainian war that even Ukrainians want to end soon.

And those citizens do not wish to see an ever more technocratic Union drift toward authoritarian habits — placing critical voices on extra-legal EU-sanction lists, and dragging the continent of the Enlightenment back toward the dark Middle Ages.

Allow me also a word as a German citizen.

I stand for the silent majority of German citizens that are bewildered that critical infrastructure on our territory can be destroyed by a country that used to be our friend and partner— and that our government has nothing to say about it.

These Germans are equally shocked that our government still supports Volodymyr Zelensky, who is – and I quote Marsha Havrishko‘s recent peace on Substack here – „The Jewish Face of a far-right Renaissance in Ukraine”, which I recommend you all to read.[1] This silent – or silenced – majority of German citizens is disgusted that the government of the one country that is responsible for the Shoa of the last century is today supporting facistoid and racist behavior and military actions of the Ukrainian and Israeli Governments. It is not within my power to do so. But if it were, I would apologize for it!

Why we are here

My personal aim, when I founded the Istanbul East-West Forum together with Tunç Akkoç and Harici, was to bring together some of the most brilliant and independent minds in the world to help us Europeans to overcome the maelstrom of the current nihilism, that reigns in EU-Europe. I do quote my beloved French poet Rimbaud: Qui ne peut pas construire, doit détruire. As things stand, Europe seems unable to find a face-saving way to play a constructive role in ending the war in Ukraine. And so it prefers escalation: in order not to face its own guilt, its own failure, its own political weakness.

Ladies and Gentlemen, please understand: this EU-Europe is dangerous — not because of its strength, but because of a weakness it cannot admit, and a nihilism that may suck it into self-destruction.

The European Transcontinental Initiative, which I founded together with Hauke Ritz and Isabell Casel — both of whom will moderate a panel today — therefore has two mottos:

Shaping Europe beyond the EU and

Shaping Europe for a multipolar world.

A Europe that moderates between East and West. And obviously, in this Europe, Türkiye -because today we are in Türkiye- has an important role to play! We want you to know that many, that most European citizens dream of this! A Europe that emancipates from the EU, from NATO and from the US, precisely to be ready for a multipolar world. Please, help us shaping this Europe!

How we will work

Today we will discuss four themes in four panels.

A request to our panelists: please be brief, be precise, and please stay close to the catalogue of questions we sent you. We aim at a highly structured conference, because we intend to publish our findings — and to build next year’s agenda on them.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the East-West Forum is here to stay!

From now on, we will meet every year, on the third weekend of September, in Istanbul. So please, already mark the dates in your calendars.

Designing the twenty-first century will take a great deal of work — conceptual, intellectual and emotional work. One conference will not be enough.

And please do not forget: YOU are not an audience. You are the conference.

Tomorrow morning, we will need you. Around this forum we want to build a network: a publication schedule, working groups, a business council to help fund the coming years, an academic advisory board, and a group of media partners.

With your networks, your channels, your ideas, your research, your writings and your contacts — all of us together are the Istanbul East-West Forum.

So please: be engaged. Be demanding. And help us make this forum larger, stronger and more visible in the years to come.

Thank you for your presence. Thank you all for being here!

[1] The article can be found on Substack here: https://martahavryshko.substack.com/p/volodymyr-zelensky-the-jewish-face

EU countries that shunned the “Peace Board” when its formation was announced a year ago are beginning to cooperate with the organization on humanitarian aid projects in the Gaza Strip.

According to a report in Politico, although the European Commission is cautiously embarking on projects with the group established by President Donald Trump, the Peace Board’s ambitious vision to disarm and rebuild Gaza remains largely on paper.

Even so, the Board remains a political force to be reckoned with, tied to Trump’s closest allies and too significant to ignore.

Europe is therefore seeking avenues to cooperate with the organization without fully endorsing it.

“All traditional donors are ready to work in parallel, but they are reluctant to channel money into the Peace Board,” said Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Espen Barth Eide.

Although Norway is not an EU member, it coordinates with the bloc regarding donations to the Palestinians.

Eide explained that Norway would prefer to work with “established institutions” such as the World Bank.

The Peace Board does not publish its budget or organizational chart. Furthermore, despite holding an account at the World Bank, it also maintains separate accounts at JPMorgan.

“The Peace Board’s mechanisms will not be compatible with our reporting arrangements,” Eide said.

This hesitation was clearly evident on Wednesday during a briefing with Peace Board officials on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

At the event, Dubravka Šuica, the European Commissioner for the Mediterranean, announced that she would sign on to two European-funded projects in partnership with UN agencies and “aligned with the priorities of the Peace Board”.

Yet her characterization of the cooperation with the Board was hardly glowing. “The important thing is to remain pragmatic,” Šuica said.

In a statement, the European Commission noted: “Given the immense early recovery needs in Gaza, coordination and alignment at all levels are of course necessary to achieve concrete results on the ground.”

The EU and most of its member states refused to join the Peace Board, partly over concerns that it could supplant the UN.

Since then, European countries have invited Peace Council representatives to their meetings and attended Security Council briefings alongside Council President Nikolay Mladenov.

The joint projects mark the first concrete step toward cooperation.

This acceptance, however reluctant, extends even to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which handles Palestinian refugees in Gaza and which Israel and the US want sidelined.

Christian Saunders, the acting head of UNRWA, said the Peace Board was “the only game in town” and added: “Everyone needs to get behind this initiative.”

Romanian Foreign Minister Oana-Silvia Țoiu struck a diplomatic tone regarding the Board’s role during an interview.

Noting that her country works in cooperation with the UN and the EU, the minister said: “Yes, where we see complementary elements, we certainly support the work being carried out at the Peace Board level.”

The minister added that she attended a meeting with Mladenov at the UN on Thursday.

This approach, however, does not enjoy unanimous support. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a French official stressed that “the UN must remain the primary platform for facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, resolving disputes, and advancing the political process.”

In November of last year, the Peace Board sought and received the UN’s backing as “a transitional administration to set the framework and coordinate financing for the reconstruction of Gaza”.

Yet the Board operates independently, and critics contend this constitutes a capitulation to Trump and Israel.

“This is a doorway to Washington at the top, and to Palestinian technocrats at the bottom,” said Amjad Iraqi of the International Crisis Group, who maintains close contact with European, Arab, and Palestinian officials, though he asked “who makes the decisions” and added that “Israel is making the calls.”

Iraqi highlighted ongoing restrictions on the entry of heavy machinery and reconstruction equipment, which Israel has stated it will not permit until Hamas is disarmed.

Meanwhile, the Peace Board’s plan to disarm Hamas has fallen through. Furthermore, Israel has continued its deadly strikes against what it identifies as Hamas targets in Gaza, albeit on a smaller scale compared to last year.

An Arab diplomat from a Peace Council member state noted that the council addresses Israel on civilian casualties in a “private capacity”, adding: “Whether that is sufficient is open to debate.”

Țoiu stated that for a problem on the scale of Gaza, “major players must be involved in the process”, noting that this includes “the US as a key facilitator of developments that could emerge as pressure toward the disarmament of Hamas”.

Ali Shaath, head of the Peace Board’s Palestinian technocratic committee planned to govern Gaza, argued at Wednesday’s event that the Peace Board is needed to bring order to a “fragmented” situation.

Tens of thousands of personnel from the Palestinian Authority, municipalities, the Gaza Strip’s de facto government, and numerous UN agencies and international NGOs operate across the territory, and he stated that his committee would unite them under a single roof.

“We are committed to one principle: one authority, one law, and one gun,” Shaath said.

Mladenov also acknowledged the tensions of operating amid hostilities. At this week’s event, he stated that the Board is working on an “advanced deconfliction mechanism” to resolve security issues before they reach a “kinetic phase”.

On Wednesday, the Peace Board released a list of 66 projects with a total value of $2.45 billion that are expected to begin soon, ranging from the provision of insulated trailers to public transit support and the repair of hospitals.

The plan is to complete these projects within six months of their start date.

Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a member of the Peace Board’s governing board, said at the same event: “What you are seeing looks very much like the establishment of a very, very large startup.”

Tom Warrick, who led post-invasion Iraq planning for the US Department of State and remains in contact with European officials, said the lack of detail is precisely what makes Europe and other potential partners nervous about the Board’s plans.

“This plan looks good on paper, but the missing piece is how we get from here to the actual starting point of most of the projects in this plan,” Warrick said.

At the Peace Board event, Mladenov hinted that little progress could be made before the Israeli elections on 27 October, stating: “The discussions we are currently holding with Israel are not easy because of the elections there.”

Mladenov emphasized that his goal remains an enduring peace that includes the disarmament of Hamas:

“We are not bound by a timeline or by dates. We are bound by verification. We want to ensure that this works.”