The United States, Saudi Arabia, and several other Arab and Muslim-majority countries have urged the United Nations Security Council to quickly implement a US resolution endorsing President Trump’s peace plan for Gaza.
According to the French news agency AFP, these countries said in a joint statement that ‘the United States, Qatar, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Jordan and Turkey express their joint support for the resolution under consideration in the Security Council and seek its immediate approval.’
The statement said that “we emphasize that this is a sincere effort, and that this plan provides a viable path to peace and stability not only between Israel and the Palestinians but also in the entire region”.
The draft resolution welcomed the establishment of a ‘Peace Board’, which would be an interim administration for Gaza, theoretically chaired by President Trump.
The resolution would allow member states to create an interim International Stabilization Force (ISF) that would work with Israel and Egypt and newly trained Palestinian police to secure border areas and help demilitarize the Gaza Strip. Unlike previous drafts, the latest draft mentions a possible future Palestinian state.
Friday’s joint statement came as Russia presented an alternative draft to council members that, according to the text, neither provides for the establishment of a “peace board” in Gaza nor the immediate deployment of an international force. The Russian draft welcomes “the steps that led to the ceasefire” but does not mention President Trump by name.
The draft calls on the UN Secretary-General to “identify possible ways to implement the provisions” of the peace plan and to submit a report soon that would also outline the possibilities of deploying an international stabilization force in Gaza, which has been devastated by the Israeli aggression.
The United States described the ceasefire as “weak” on Thursday and warned of the risks associated with not passing its proposed resolution. “Attempts to stoke the flames of division at a time when active negotiations are underway to reach a consensus on this resolution will have serious, real, and entirely avoidable consequences for the Palestinians in Gaza,” a spokesman for the US mission to the United Nations said in a statement.
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