Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Nickolay Mladenov will be the director of the Peace Council - a body envisaged under the Gaza ceasefire plan presented by US President Donald Trump last fall, the Associated Press reported.
Earlier today, Mladenov held meetings with Netanyahu and Israeli President Yitzhak Herzog in Jerusalem.
Netanyahu announced the appointment after meeting with Mladenov.
The appointment marks a major step forward in implementing Trump's peace plan, which has stalled since its first phase was activated and led to an end to the two-year war in the Palestinian enclave.
Work on the second phase of the plan has never been able to achieve progress since then, AP notes.
Nikolay Mladenov was a deputy in the 39th National Assembly (2001-2005). He was also a member of the European Parliament (2007-2009). He held the posts of Minister of Defense (2009-2010) and Minister of Foreign Affairs (2010-2013).
In 2013, he was appointed Special Representative and Head of the UN Mission in Iraq (UNAMI). From 2015 to the end of 2020, he was the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process. In this position, he played a key role in efforts to de-escalate tensions between Israel and the Palestinians.
Trump's peace plan for the Gaza Strip envisages that the territory be governed by a Palestinian technocratic government – temporary and apolitical – under the supervision of the Peace Council.
According to the American publication “Axios“ Trump is to announce its creation next week. The publication specifies that the Council will have 15 representatives, including from Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt and Turkey.