India's Left parties on Wednesday urged the government to turn down the US invitation to join the 'Board of Peace', which is intended to implement the 'Gaza Peace Plan'. The communist parties claimed that accepting the deal would be a "grave betrayal" of the Palestinian cause.
India's top five mainstream Left parties—the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (ML) Liberation, All India Forward Bloc, and Revolutionary Socialist Party—alleged that the Board deliberately circumvents the United Nations and seeks to create a new international structure controlled by the US.
"We, the Left Parties, strongly urge the Indian government not to accept the US-offered position on the so-called 'Board of Peace', which is intended to implement the 'Gaza Peace Plan'," they claimed in a joint statement in New Delhi on Wednesday.
The parties said India's participation in such a Board, which "does not respect Palestinian rights, would constitute a grave betrayal of the Palestinian cause".
"This Board proposed by US President Donald Trump deliberately circumvents the United Nations and seeks to create a new international structure controlled by the US," they said.
"The US attempt to override existing international institutions must be firmly opposed. The Indian government should stay away from such proposals and stand resolutely in defence of Palestine and other countries of the Global South that are threatened by US imperial ambitions," the Left parties added.
The statement was signed by the General Secretaries of all five Left parties: MA Baby (CPI(M)), D Raja (CPI), Dipankar Bhattacharya (CPI(ML) Liberation), G Devarajan (AIFB), and Manoj Bhattacharya (RSP).
India has received an invitation from US President Donald Trump to be part of the 'Board of Peace'.
US Ambassador to India, Sergio Gor, shared on X a letter sent by Trump to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, inviting him to be a part of the "Board of Peace" that will work towards bringing lasting peace to Gaza and embark on a "bold new approach" to resolving "global conflict".
Meanwhile, Egypt on Wednesday accepted an invitation from U.S. President Donald Trump to join the so-called "Board of Peace", its foreign ministry said in a statement. The initiative was initially propelled by the aim to end the conflict in Gaza, but Trump has said it will resolve conflicts globally.
As per reports, Trump is headed for the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, where more details are expected to emerge. Ahead of Davos, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that he had agreed to join the board, despite his previous criticism of the board's committee overseeing the Gaza ceasefire.
The board's charter has not yet been made public, but a draft version obtained by The Associated Press indicates that much of the power will be concentrated in Trump's hands. A USD 1 billion contribution secures permanent membership, the draft says.
