The Security Council adopted a resolution late Monday evening Swedish time in support of the peace plan brokered by the United States.
This gives a formal mandate to send international forces to the Gaza Strip. The plan is to establish a “stabilization force” to control border crossings, protect civilians and ensure aid deliveries.
The plan is also to introduce an interim government – a “peace government” chaired by US President Donald Trump. After the vote in New York, Trump went out and “congratulated the world” on a historic step.
Are they leaving?
Hamas initially reacted with doubts. The resolution is not sufficient to meet the Palestinians' "political and humanitarian demands and rights," the Islamist movement announced, according to AFP. The people oppose placing the Gaza Strip under international "trusteeship," it further claimed.
An essential part of the peace plan is that Hamas should be deposed and disarmed. The Security Council resolution also states that “non-state armed groups” should be disarmed.
The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank is even more positive. It welcomes the Security Council's decision, according to a statement carried by the Wafa news agency. The authority also emphasizes that the resolution "confirms" the right of the Palestinian people to their own state.
How the resolution would relate to a two-state solution was a major stumbling block in the Security Council negotiations. In the end, a wording was added: if the Palestinian Authority undergoes the desired reforms, “the conditions may finally be in place for a credible path to be charted towards Palestinian self-determination and a state of its own.”
Angry colleagues
Israel also expresses doubts. The country's government warns that the war will resume unless concrete steps are taken to disarm Hamas.
Colleagues of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are also reacting angrily to the formulation of a future Palestinian statehood.
On Monday, a few hours before the Security Council vote, the far-right Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said in a fiery speech that a Palestinian state must never become a reality and that Palestinian Authority representatives should be assassinated if steps were taken in that direction, reports the Times of Israel, among others. The extremist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich is also loudly criticizing Netanyahu – whose power depends on the support of these colleagues.
