Moleta, Benedict2026-09-152026-09-15ORCID:/0009-0000-2023-8612/work/226624765https://hdl.handle.net/1885/733815458If American grand strategy has entered a stalemate when it comes to the country that has held it in nearly fifty years of “Persian captivity,” then American localized strategy appears comparably debilitated in Gaza. The continued administration of Gaza by an armed Hamas – an organization deemed politically illegitimate and an ongoing security threat – is unacceptable to America and intolerable to Israel. Yet a year since the Trump-initiated Board of Peace was announced, it is yet to demonstrate its capacity to oversee a path from Gaza under Hamas, to Gaza under an alternative form of governance. Unless such an alternative can be produced, that is both effective and recognized as legitimate by the people of Gaza, the Board of Peace will remain an entity unfit to fill a political vacuum.en2026-09-11