The United Nations Security Council approved this Monday the resolution inspired by the peace plan for Gaza promoted by the US president, Donald Trump, by thirteen votes in favor and the abstentions of Russia and China. The support of the multilateral institution represents a boost for the Republican and his efforts to forge an image of a peacemaker that will earn him a Nobel Peace Prize.
The new resolution 2803, and the original US twenty-point plan – included in it as an annex – provide for the establishment of an international security force in the strip (ISF) that will operate at least until December 2027.
This force will have the mission of securing Gaza’s borders with Israel and Egypt. It will also have to protect civilians and humanitarian corridors within the strip, as well as train a future Palestinian police force. But the text of the resolution does not explain whether the ISF will carry out one of the key points of the peace plan, the disarmament of the radical Palestinian militia Hamas. And if so, how, given that the Islamist group refuses to hand over its weapons.
Several countries that had participated in the peace negotiations that led to the fragile ceasefire agreed last month between Israel and Hamas, mediated by the United States, Qatar, Egypt and other nations, had expressed interest in participating in the ISF. But in order to do so, they argued, they needed a United Nations mandate to provide them with a legal basis.
The country that has completely ruled out participating in the international force is the United States itself, whose president is under strong pressure from his own conservative base. This base calls on him to focus more on his country’s internal problems and get less involved in international conflicts that they perceive as foreign to Washington’s key interests.
In a brief speech after the vote, the US ambassador to the UN, Michael Waltz, welcomed the resolution, which he described as a “significant step towards a stable Gaza”.
Immediately before the vote, Waltz had urged a yes vote. “If the most affected region, the Arab nations, the Muslim-majority nations, the Palestinians and the Israelis can accept this resolution, how can anyone oppose it? There is an old saying where I come from: you can’t be more Catholic than the Pope.”
The resolution also establishes the framework for the creation of a new transitional government in Gaza through a “peace council” that will oversee the reconstruction of the strip.
The measure is approved in New York one day before the US president receives the Saudi crown prince, Mohamed bin Salman, at the White House.
Trump hopes for Saudi Arabia to adhere to the Abraham Accords of normalization between Israel and Arab and Muslim countries, but Riyadh flatly rejects that possibility as long as a roadmap for the establishment of a Palestinian state is not established. The peace plan does not provide a path for this, and Israel makes clear its fierce opposition to any such step now or in the future.
The text declares that “the conditions for a credible path to self-determination and a Palestinian state can finally be met” once the Palestinian Authority has completed a reform program and the reconstruction of Gaza is advanced.
“The United States will establish a dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians to agree on a political horizon for peaceful and prosperous coexistence,” the resolution states.
