The UN Security Council will vote on Monday (Nov 17) on a resolution endorsing US President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan, diplomats said.
Last week, the Americans officially launched negotiations within the 15-member Security Council on a text that would follow up on a ceasefire in the two-year war between Israel and Hamas and endorse Trump’s plan.
A draft of the resolution seen on Thursday by AFP “welcomes the establishment of the Board of Peace”, a transitional governing body for Gaza – that Trump would theoretically chair – with a mandate running until the end of 2027.
It would authorise member states to form a “temporary International Stabilization Force (ISF)” that would work with Israel and Egypt and newly trained Palestinian police to help secure border areas and demilitarise the Gaza Strip.
Unlike previous drafts, the latest mentions a possible future Palestinian state.
The United States and several Arab and Muslim-majority nations, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, called on Friday for the UN Security Council to quickly adopt the resolution.
“The United States, Qatar, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Jordan, and Türkiye express our joint support for the Security Council Resolution currently under consideration,” the countries said in a joint statement, adding they were seeking the measure’s “swift adoption”.
Friday’s joint statement comes as Russia circulated a competing draft resolution to Council members that does not authorise the creation of a board of peace or the immediate deployment of an international force in Gaza, according to the text seen on Friday by AFP.
The Russian version welcomes “the initiative that led to the ceasefire” but does not name Trump.
It also only calls on the UN secretary-general to submit a report that addresses the possibilities of deploying an international stabilisation force in war-ravaged Gaza.
The United States has called the ceasefire “fragile”, and warned on Friday of the risks of not adopting its draft.
“Any refusal to back this resolution is a vote either for the continued reign of Hamas terrorists or for the return to war with Israel, condemning the region and its people to perpetual conflict,” the US ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, wrote in The Washington Post.
Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/trump-gaza-plan-un-security-council-vote-nov-17-5469426
