Security Council criticizes Israel's plans in the West Bank ahead of Trump's peace meeting

Members of the UN Security Council on Wednesday called for the ceasefire agreement in Gaza to become permanent and criticized Israel's efforts to expand control in the West Bank as a threat to the prospects of a two-state solution, on the eve of President Donald Trump's first Peace Board meeting to discuss the future of the Palestinian territories. The UN high-level session in New York was originally scheduled for Thursday, but it was brought forward after Trump announced the board meeting for the same day and it became clear that this would complicate the travel plans of diplomats who planned to attend both sessions. This is a sign of the potential for overlapping and conflicting agendas between the most powerful body of the United Nations and Trump's new initiative, whose broader ambitions to mediate global conflicts have raised concerns in some countries about the possibility that he will try to rival the UN Security Council. Pakistan, the only country on the 15-member council that also accepted an invitation to join the Peace Board, denounced during the meeting Israel's controversial settlement project in the West Bank as "null and void" and said it constitutes a "clear violation of international law".

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"Israel's recent illegal decisions to expand its control over the West Bank are deeply concerning," said Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar. The Foreign Ministers of the United Kingdom, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, and Indonesia also attended the monthly Security Council meeting on the Middle East, after many Arab and Islamic countries requested last week that the issue of Gaza and the West Bank be addressed before some of them traveled to Washington. "The annexation violates the UN Charter and the most fundamental norms of international law," declared the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour. "It is a violation of President Trump's plan and constitutes an existential threat to ongoing peace efforts." Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said that attention was not focused on the UN session and that the focus of the international world would be on the Peace Board meeting. Saar also accused the council of being "infected by an anti-Israel obsession" and insisted that no nation has a stronger right than its "historical and documented right to the land of the Bible."

Greater Ambitions for the Peace Board

The board that Trump will preside over was originally conceived as a small group of world leaders who would oversee his 20-point plan for the future of Gaza. However, the Republican president's new vision of the board acting as a mediator in global conflicts has generated skepticism among his main allies. Although more than 20 countries have so far accepted an invitation to join the board, close partners of the United States, including France, Germany and others, have chosen not to join yet and have renewed their support for the UN, which is also in the midst of major reforms and funding cuts. The British Foreign Secretary, Yvette Cooper, said that there is an opportunity for the UN's most powerful body to help build "a better future" for Israelis and Palestinians despite the "cycle of violence and suffering" during the more than two-year war between Israel and Hamas. "Gaza must not be left trapped in a no man's land between peace and war," Cooper said at the opening of the meeting. Mike Waltz, U.S. ambassador to the UN, appeared to criticize countries that had not yet joined the Peace Board, saying that unlike the Security Council, the Board "is not talking, it is acting". "We are listening to the chatty class criticize the structure of the board, which is unconventional, unprecedented," Waltz said on Wednesday. "Once again, the old ways weren't working." The Security Council meets one day after almost all of its 15 members, except the United States, and dozens of other diplomats joined Palestinian Ambassador Mansour as he read a statement on behalf of more than 80 countries and several organizations condemning Israel's latest actions in the West Bank, demanding an immediate reversal and underlining "strong opposition to any form of annexation". In recent weeks, Israel has initiated a controversial process of territorial regulation that will deepen its control over the occupied West Bank. Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen stated that this amounts to "de facto sovereignty" that will block the establishment of a Palestinian state. Outraged Palestinians, Arab countries, and human rights groups have called the measures an illegal annexation of the territory, home to approximately 3.4 million Palestinians who seek it for a future state.

'A Crucial Moment in the Middle East'

The UN meeting also delved into the US-brokered ceasefire agreement that came into effect on October 10. Representatives from Israeli and Palestinian civil society briefed the council for the first time since the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, against Israel that initiated the war. Hiba Qasas, a Palestinian and founding executive director of the Principles for Peace Foundation, based in Geneva, and Nadav Tamir, a former Israeli diplomat and executive director of J Street Israel, said they represent a strong coalition of Israelis and Palestinians who believe that the only way to end the conflict is through a two-state solution. "Israel cannot continue to be the democratic homeland of the Jewish people if Palestinians are denied a homeland of their own. Our future is interdependent," Tamir stated. The UN's political chief, Rosemary DiCarlo, told the council that "this is a crucial moment in the Middle East" that opens the possibility for the region to move forward in a new direction. "But that opening is neither secure nor indefinite," she added, and its sustainability will depend on the decisions made in the coming weeks. "The Peace Board meeting in Washington, DC, tomorrow is an important step," he said. With unusually strong language, DiCarlo reprimanded Israel's unilateral actions in the West Bank, saying that the world is witnessing its "gradual de facto annexation".

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Some aspects of the ceasefire agreement have advanced, including the release of all the hostages held by Hamas and the increase in humanitarian aid reaching Gaza, although the UN claims it is insufficient. A new technocratic committee has been appointed to administer the daily affairs of Gaza. But the most difficult steps are yet to come, including the deployment of an international security force, the disarmament of Hamas, and the reconstruction of Gaza. Trump declared this week that members of the Peace Board have pledged $5 billion for the reconstruction of Gaza and will allocate thousands of troops to international stabilization forces and police for the territory. He did not provide details. The Indonesian military claims that up to 8,000 of its troops are expected to be ready by the end of June for a possible deployment in Gaza as part of a humanitarian and peace mission.