Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Board of Peace Event

SECRETARY RUBIO: I’ll be brief and to the point. We want to talk a little bit about the strategic vision of this organization and begin doing so by first acknowledging that we are here today because the President has – the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, has both an ability and a willingness to use the power of his office to think outside the box. And that’s why we’re here today. This was a very unique crisis in Gaza, one that the existing international institutions could not solve or figure out. It needed a very specific type solution that required the partnership of all the nations that are here, including those that are here on an observer status, and we appreciate you coming today and being a part of this as well.

And that’s the point I want to drive home today, and soon you’ll hear from Steve and Jared, who, by the way, deserve an incredible amount of credit for pulling this together and working countless hours and traveling all over the world. They truly deserve our appreciation and thanks for the work they’ve put in under the leadership of President Trump to make this possible.

This Gaza situation was impossible to solve under orthodoxy, under existing structures. And so what we did is they went to the UN and they got the UN’s approval to put this group together and bring these nations together to come up with a very specific solution – solutions – to a very unique and specific problem. We have a long ways to go. There’s a lot of work that remains. It will require the contribution of every nation-state represented here today, and we thank you for being a part of it. And I hope that this – we hope that this can serve as a model for other complex and difficult situations so they can be solved in the same way, but right now the focus is on this one. We have to get this right. There is no Plan B for Gaza. Plan B is going back to war. No one here wants that.

Plan A, the only path forward, is one that rebuilds Gaza in a way of enduring and sustainable peace, where everyone can live there side by side with one another and never worry again about returning to conflict, to war, to human suffering, and to destruction.

And again, Mr. President, thank you for having the vision and the courage to pursue something that has never been done before, and we’re not done yet. And thank you to Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner for the time and the work they’ve put into this. And thank you on behalf of the State Department and the U.S. Government to all of the nations that are here. Every one of you is indispensable, including our observer partners, who we hope can find your way to join us at some point as officially part of this, but we are grateful for the fact you’re here today and the contributions you’ve made already. Thank you.

(Applause.)