Bulgaria's Nikolay Mladenov being considered for Gaza 'board of peace', reports say

Bulgarian politician and diplomat Nikolay Mladenov could be one of the candidates to represent Donald Trump’s "Board of Peace" to administer Gaza in the second phase of the US-brokered ceasefire agreement, recent reports reveal.

News of his possible inclusion on the board – which will be led by the US president – was reported by some American media outlets and comes after former British prime minister Tony Blair was dropped.

Palestinians, Arab and Muslim 'guarantor states' of the ceasefire, objected to Blair’s participation on the board.

Mladenov has served as Bulgaria’s defence minister and foreign affairs minister. In 2013, he was appointed as the then-UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative for Iraq and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq.

He later served as UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, a time he is said to have built good relations with Israeli politicians and the Palestinian Authority.

The Bulgarian official has indicated that he supports the Abraham Accords and is a strong believer in broad normalisation with Israel. Although he has been a critic of Israel’s illegal settlement policies in the occupied West Bank, Mladenov has frequently taken aim at Palestinian resistance.

Mladenov’s appointment on the Board of Peace would be welcomed by Israel, reports The New Arab’s sister site, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, due to his strong ties with Israeli officials dating back more than 25 years.

This includes far-right leader Avigdor Lieberman and former foreign minister Tzipi Livni. He also shares close ties with Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who engineered the Abraham Accords normalisation deals.

The Board of Peace comes as part of the second phase of Trump’s "peace plan" for Gaza, which will see the deployment of an international security force, a transitional governing administration, and the disarmament of militant groups.

The plan was approved by the UN Security Council last month.

Many Palestinians say the board and Trump’s plan seeks to place Gaza under foreign guardianship in an imperialist-style manner.