UN Council Backs Trump's Gaza Proposal

The Security Council has approved proposals presented by the US president for securing a lasting peace in Gaza, including the deployment of an international stabilisation force and a potential avenue to a Palestinian statehood.

Broad Backing with Notable Abstentions

This measure was passed by a count of thirteen supporting, with both China and Russia declining to cast votes. Washington's diplomat Mike Waltz told the international body that it charted “a different path in the region for Israelis and Palestinians and all the inhabitants of the region alike”.

Compromise Language on Sovereignty

Addition of references to an self-governing Palestine was the price the America agreed to for backing from the Muslim nations, who are likely to provide security forces for the global force.

“The transitional arrangements that we start today must be implemented in following international law and upholding Palestinian sovereignty,” Britain's representative declared.

Netanyahu's Opposition Persists

However, on the brink of the resolution approval, PM Netanyahu reiterated his cabinet's firm resistance to the formation of a independent Palestinian entity, casting doubt on whether Tel Aviv will permit the enactment of the UN-mandated proposals.

Main Elements of the Proposal

• Immediate lifting of remaining curbs on assistance into Gaza
• Creation of an multinational peacekeeping unit
• Progress on reconstruction and a potential “pathway to Palestinian independence and statehood”

Ambiguous Phrasing and Stipulations

The reference to independence was a negotiated inclusion to an initial US draft which did not mention it. However the phrasing is ambiguous and contingent, promising only that once the Palestinian Authority has undergone changes and the restoration of the territory is under way, “the circumstances may ultimately be in place for a realistic route to Palestinian independence and statehood.”

Global Reaction

The language was insufficient of the strong guarantee to the establishment of a independent Palestinian entity beside Israel sought by Muslim nations, as well as EU representatives, but in speeches to the assembly after the decision, delegates from those states said they were ready to support the settlement in the benefit of continuing the current truce and prompt actions to feed and protect the millions of Palestinian people in the strip.

“We has eventually decided to vote in favour of this text, a measure that we approve its main goal, namely the preservation of the cessation of hostilities and the creation of conditions allowing the Palestinian people to assert their fundamental rights to self-determination and sovereignty,” the Algerian envoy announced.

Execution Hurdles

The resolution provides comprehensive monitoring control to a “peace board” chaired by the US president, but of undefined composition. The group has to inform the United Nations but it is not bound by the wishes of the global organization or by the Palestinian leadership.

It also calls for the creation of a Palestinian technocratic committee that is expected to manage day-to-day governance of the territory and the provision of utilities, but it is quite ambiguous who would take part.

Peacekeeping Unit Authority

The mandate of the global force gives it authority to disarm and dismantle fighting factions in the strip, but it is far from clear that would-be troop contributors would agree to attempt to confront such groups. Not a single nation has yet pledged to dispatching troops.

Moreover the standards for reform of the Palestinian Authority, the prerequisite towards steps to Palestinian statehood, have been hazy.

European officials said they deemed it necessary that the identities of the expert panel to provide utilities was agreed as without delay.