The UN Security Council approves Trump's plan for Gaza

WashingtonDonald Trump's plan 20-point plan for ending the war in Gaza It was approved this Monday at the UN Security Council. In an unusual move, China and Russia abstained from the vote, allowing the measure to pass with 13 votes in favor. The ruling states that if the Palestinian Authority, which governs part of the West Bank, is reformed and makes progress in rebuilding the Gaza Strip, the conditions could finally be in place for a credible path to self-determination and the creation of a Palestinian state. Even so, it remains a clause written entirely in the conditional tense.

For Israel, however, the mere mention of a possible Palestinian state remains uncomfortable. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that "our opposition to a Palestinian state in any territory has not changed." The aversion to recognizing Palestine makes the path to fully implementing the plan fraught with uncertainty. The recent ceasefire It is fragile and has already experienced outbreaks of violence. It is quite questionable to refer to it as a truce when there have still been continued Israeli bombings in Gaza and episodes of clashes in the West Bank.

After securing the Security Council's approval, the most immediate step would be to create the transitional government, which, according to the plan, would be headed by Trump himself, effectively turning the Gaza Strip into a kind of US protectorate. Besides the Peace Council, it must also be determined under whose authority the stabilizing forces operating in the area would function. Another immediate challenge is how these stabilizing forces will operate on the ground and how they will confront the Hamas militants, who remain armed and present in the Strip. The ruling states that the objective of this new military body will be to destroy the military infrastructure in Gaza and confiscate the Islamist group's weapons.

The abstention of China and Russia, who did not use their veto power, can be explained by the support shown to the plan by various Arab countries. Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates approved it at the time, as did Indonesia, Turkey, and Pakistan, which is a member of the Security Council.

Before the vote began, the US ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, reiterated the idea that Gaza is "hell on earth" and displayed a copy of the resolution, describing it as "a lifeline." Once again, Washington ignored the cause of that "hell": Israel. After the vote, Waltz thanked the Council for "joining us in charting a new course for Israelis, Palestinians, and all the inhabitants of the region alike."

The result also marks the end of the isolation the US had experienced within the United Nations as a result of its support for Israel in the genocide against the Palestinians. The peak of Washington's isolation within the international community was staged in September during the UN high-level week, where the majority of member states voted in favor of recognizing the State of Palestine. The Security Council's endorsement of the US plan represents another diplomatic victory for Trump. In a post on Truth Social, the US president boasted about the milestone: "This will go down in history as one of the most important approvals in the history of the United Nations, will lead to more peace around the world, and is a moment of truly historic proportions." He also announced that "the members of the Board and many more exciting announcements will be made in the coming weeks." When the plan was made public in October, it was already leaked that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair would be one of the politicians to serve on the governing body.