Media reports Board of Peace decisions taken, but meeting still shrouded in mystery

Israeli media on Wednesday reported that decisions have been taken by the Gaza Board of Peace, suggesting that a meeting, possibly in Cyprus, did take place, although no official has yet confirmed that such a meeting has started, or even where it took place. According to Israeli newspaper the Times of Israel, the Board of Peace decided on Wednesday to relieve its director of deradicalisation, Jason Olson, of his duties, with the newspaper quoting an unnamed official from the Board of Peace as saying that his “recent detail in support of the Board of Peace mission has concluded”. The official was quoted as having added that “we thank him for his capacity-building contributions”. Olson, a Mormon academic who had prior to his appointment to the Board of Peace served as an executive agent in the United States army’s Middle East and North Africa peacekeeping operations, and had previously penned an article in the Jerusalem Post titled, “Why we’re standing with Israel: A Latter-day Saint view”, was appointed to the role in May. The Times of Israel reported that his dismissal “came as much of the Board of Peace’s professional staff were meeting in Cyprus in order to ready a committee of Palestinian technocrats for entering Gaza in place of Hamas”. Since government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis confirmed a week ago that the meeting would take place, the Cypriot government has been reticent to pass comment on the matter, with Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos having stressed that Cyprus is neither “organising”, nor “co-organising” the meeting. He had also been keen to point out that the Cypriot government is “not participating in the discussions”, and although Letymbiotis had said that “officials” had “requested meetings” with Kombos, no such meetings have been announced this week. A meeting between former British prime minister Tony Blair – a member of the Board of Peace – and President Nikos Christodoulides in Nicosia which had been announced for Monday never took place. Meanwhile, Israel Hayom reported that the Board of Peace has taken a decision to open “‘Hamas-free’ humanitarian zones” in Gaza, with civilian populations to be directed to camps in those areas, where they will receive humanitarian aid. It said that “civilians with no weapons or affiliation with Hamas” will first be directed to the suburb of Tel Sultan, which is located to the north of Rafah, adjacent to the Egyptian border. “Multinational forces under the Board of Peace’s management will also arrive in the area and will be based at a facility built for them at Camp Amitai,” which is located just outside of the Gaza strip, near the Kerem Shalom border crossing. Those forces, it added, “are expected to be equipped with nonlethal weapons to maintain order in the humanitarian zones”, while soldiers from the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) will “continue to hold its positions and deepen its grip on areas beyond the yellow line”, a demarcation line separating the 60 per cent of Gaza which now falls entirely under Israeli control. Additionally, the newspaper reported that the Board of Peace “has begun identifying sites in communities around the Gaza border area for the establishment of large logistics warehouses that will serve its efforts to regulate the humanitarian shelters”. It stated that Israelis living near the Gaza strip had expressed reservations regarding the reported plan, arguing that “the shelters must not be established as long as Hamas remains armed”. However, it added, the Board of Peace and the Israeli government believe that the establishment of those zones and camps within them “is the way to deepen the blow to Hamas, by disconnecting it from the population”. The reports notwithstanding, no official was able to confirm Wednesday’s meeting’s whereabouts, or whether it had happened at all. Additionally, the Cyprus Mail attempted to contact the US state department, the US embassy in Nicosia, and the World Bank regarding the meeting, but received no response. It had been reported last week that the meeting would take place at a “resort” on the island, though with no official announcements or photographs of any kind having been forthcoming, it remains unclear where the meeting was held, with the only evidence that it was held at all being the various media reports circulating regarding decisions made. Cyprus was one of dozens of countries invited to join the Board of Peace, with Kombos saying on the day of the board’s inauguration that the island was waiting for the European Union to form a common position on the matter before taking a decision. EU members Bulgaria and Hungary did join the board as full members, while Cyprus, in line with the EU’s broad position, in the end decided to attend meetings as an observer.