LOS ANGELES — While the world’s attention has been fixed on Iran, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz and a team of American bureaucrats have spent the last few months quietly working to turn President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace into a fully functioning entity. 

The fledgling international organization — billed by some as an alternative to the U.N., although Waltz insists there is room for both — has the astronomically large task of governing and rebuilding Gaza. Waltz is bullish on the possibility that the morass of Gaza can be worked out peacefully, with enough buy-in from countries who are willing to finance the creation of a new governing and police structure in Gaza.

“​​The contributions keep coming in for both the international stabilization force and the new police force. That training is standing up in both Egypt and Jordan. It’s going to take time, but all of those pieces are moving forward,” Waltz told Jewish Insider during an interview on Monday at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles. 

One lingering challenge to Waltz’s premise of a peaceful Gaza is Hamas’ grip on power, which remains a huge variable in a plan that is largely contingent upon the U.S. and Israel’s defeat of Hamas. The terror group still controls large swathes of Gaza, even if not all of it. It will be loath to hand over that power willingly. Waltz swore that Hamas “will never again rule Gaza,” whether as a result of “diplomatic action or military action.”

“I wouldn’t expect a terrorist organization like them to just roll over and hand over everybody, but once we’ve cut off any other path for them, then I think they have no other choice,” said Waltz. 

Hamas, he argued, will not put down its arms unless compelled to do so. If Hamas feels squeezed enough — if the U.S. has enough leverage — then the group will have no choice but to give in, according to Waltz.

“At the end of the day, Hamas has a choice to make. Those negotiations are going on as we speak. [Nickolay] Mladenov laid out a demilitarization plan, a plan to decommission their weapons,” Waltz said, referring to the Bulgarian diplomat who heads the Board of Peace. “I’m going to remain optimistic, as horrific an organization that Hamas is.”

The deck is now stacked against Hamas, Waltz argued. He pointed to the Gulf states and Arab nations that are members of the Board of Peace — places like Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — to signal that Hamas is deeply isolated.

“They really have no option,” said Waltz. “They’re either going to do this the easy way or the hard way. And let’s all pray they do it the easy way.” 

Still, he acknowledged that the group’s hold on power remains strong.

“I think they’re [Hamas] unfortunately still exerting control over portions, but we’ve also seen pushback from local tribes, local families,” Waltz said of Hamas. He noted that the Board of Peace-affiliated National Committee for the Administration of Gaza has plans to take over government services. But that will be only in the parts of Gaza not controlled by Hamas.