Gaza reconstruction pledges raise a separate question: who controls the money?

Zaha Hassan and Charles H. Johnson examine the Board of Peace through its charter, funding arrangements and relationship to Gaza reconstruction. Their March 2026 analysis argues that concentrating authority in its chairman creates unresolved accountability problems.

They distinguish the UN-backed objective of recovery and Palestinian self-determination from a charter with a broader peacebuilding mandate. The chairman’s control over appointments and executive decisions, they argue, also translates into extensive influence over budgets and disbursement.

The article compares $17 billion in announced pledges with an estimated $70 billion reconstruction requirement. It asks whether some contributions purchase permanent membership, finance Gaza’s recovery, or serve both purposes. Pledges spread over years are also different from immediately available funds.

The authors call for published oversight, auditing and conflict-of-interest arrangements before further commitments. This is their assessment at the time of publication, not a claim that every subsequent funding arrangement remained unchanged. It directs attention from the size of announcements to the institutions that would spend the money.