The United Nations Security Council’s approval of President Donald Trump‘s peace plan for Gaza was a major achievement for his administration, but the international community will still need to overcome significant hurdles to bring it to fruition.
The resolution passed on Monday afternoon with 13 votes — Russia and China abstained — in favor of Trump’s 20-point plan that includes an international stabilization force to demilitarize Hamas and govern Gaza and a “Board of Peace,” which will act as a transitional authority that Trump will head.
“Today’s U.N. Security Council resolution endorsing President Trump’s 20-point peace plan is a historic milestone in building a peaceful and prosperous Gaza governed by the Palestinian people — not Hamas,” said Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. “President Trump is advancing real, measurable change in the region. With this vote, we’re closer than ever to achieving a demilitarized, deradicalized, and stable Gaza.”
Despite the United States’s celebration, Hamas and Israel rejected parts of the deal that have consistently prevented the international mediators from figuring out a long-term peace plan.
In a statement, Hamas said the resolution “does not meet the level” of Palestinian political and humanitarian demands and “imposes a mechanism to achieve the [Israeli] occupation’s objectives.”
Simultaneously, Israeli leaders opposed a pathway toward Palestinian statehood, which they argued would reward Hamas for the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack that ignited the conflict more than two years ago. Many Arab countries have said their willingness to participate in a transitional force in Gaza rests on the commitment to a future Palestinian state.
“The Security Council resolution on paper, even though it is without much enforcement power, there’s no compellence here, is a considerable achievement keeping the momentum going for ending the war in Gaza,” Aaron David Miller, a longtime State Department official who focused on the Middle East, told the Washington Examiner. “It is not, however, and does not bring us substantially closer to solving the two basic issues which need to be addressed.”
Despite the ceasefire, which has largely held since it was implemented more than a month ago, Hamas still has not agreed to lay down its weapons and give up its aspirations to be involved in Gaza’s postwar government, which is also Israel’s defining matter for the negotiations.
UN APPROVES US-BACKED PEACE PLAN FOR GAZA, HAMAS SAYS PROPOSAL FAVORS ISRAELI OCCUPATION
“Who or what is going to provide security in its manifold complexities for Gaza the international stabilization force remains right now a thought experiment, and unless the fundamental question can be addressed, it’s going to be extremely difficult to deploy to demilitarize and decommission Hamas’ weapons, and that means reconciling Hamas’ vision of Gaza with Netanyahu,” added Miller, who is now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “And right now, that vision they’re mutually irreconcilable.”
It’s unclear who will serve on the Board of Peace or in the Palestinian technocratic government that it will establish, but the 20-point plan says the board will include Trump and former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair.
