The United Nations celebrates its 80th anniversary this year – 80 years have passed since the end of World War II and the establishment of the United Nations Organisation in 1945.
During those 80 years the world has seen radical changes, including the inception of the Cold War between the US-led West and the former Soviet Union and the demise of the latter with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
Over the last eight decades, the Middle East has often been on the agenda of the two main bodies of the United Nations, namely the Security Council and the General Assembly. Events discussed by both bodies have included the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, the Suez Crisis in 1956, the June War in 1967, the October War in 1973, and the subsequent Israeli invasions of Lebanon on two occasions in 1978 and 1981.
The former invasion lasted for a few months, but the latter lasted 15 years until the Israeli withdrawal from Southern Lebanon in 2000.
Since 1948 which saw the forced displacement of the Palestinians from their ancestral homes to the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon, the United Nations through the United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) has catered to the welfare of these refugees, whose number in 1948 was 750,000, in the absence of any credible and serious diplomatic solution to what is commonly known as the “Palestinian question.”
These refugees today number almost six million. Over the last two years since the Hamas attacks on southern Israel of 7 October 2023, the war that Israel launched in retaliation against the Gaza Strip, which is still ongoing, could mean another major displacement of the Palestinians from their homes.
It is therefore no wonder that the 80th session of the UN General Assembly this year could be called the “Palestinian session” – not because the UN has seen the solemn and overdue proclamation of the establishment of an independent and sovereign state of Palestine with internationally recognised borders, but because of a series of developments related to the future of the Palestinian question that raise the question of whether the world is nearer to its diplomatic settlement than it has been before over the last 80 years.
After France, the UK, Canada, and Australia recognised the state of Palestine at this year’s UN General Assembly meeting, US President Donald Trump met with a group of Arab and Muslim leaders on 24 September on the sidelines of the General Assembly and told them that the US administration has elaborated a 21-point plan not only to end the war in Gaza but also to bring peace to the Middle East.
As if concerned to provide music for their ears, Trump told the assembled leaders that the annexation of the West Bank by Israel “won’t happen.” On his Truth Social platform last weekend, Trump also wrote that there is a “real chance for something great in the Middle East,” adding that “All Are on Board… for the First Time Ever.”
However, the leadership of Hamas announced on 28 September that it has not received any “new proposal” from the mediators in the Gaza war, referring to Egypt, Qatar, and the United States. The news of the American plan received endorsement from the Egyptian government as well as from some Arab countries, particularly in the Gulf and Jordan.
According to press reports, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff last Thursday in New York to discuss the plan. On 28 September, he again met with Witkoff to go over the “peace plan” before meeting Trump at the White House on 30 September.
US Vice-President J D Vance told the US Fox News Channel on 28 September that “complicated talks are taking place between Arab leaders, Israel, and the US.” He sounded “more optimistic about a ceasefire in the war on Gaza happening than at any point in the last few months.” However, he cautioned that “these things can get derailed at the last minute.”
It goes without saying that the American plan was coordinated with the Israeli prime minister, which explains what Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar wrote on X when he said that he “trusts the Prime Minister to represent Israel’s interests appropriately in talks with President Trump. After two years of war, Israel’s clear national interest is to end the war and achieve its goals.”
As usual, Israel will likely demand changes in the US plan. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted three unnamed Israeli officials in its edition last Sunday as saying that Netanyahu will not accept all of the plan and will likely “try to make more changes” before it is finalised by the US administration. They added, some would say surprisingly, that he is likely to make changes “afterwards as well.”
The plan calls for the immediate release of all the hostages, the living, who number 20, and the remains of the dead, within 48 hours of the “ceasefire agreement” – in other words, the plan. It talks about the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, the disarmament of Hamas and its not being allowed to play any role in the future administration of the Strip, and the formation of a Palestinian administration in Gaza that would be overseen by an international supervisory board.
It was interesting to see a vague reference in the plan to a “pathway” to a future Palestinian state. In his remarks before the UN General Assembly on 26 September, Netanyahu ruled out Israel’s acceptance of a Palestinian state.
The American peace plan for Gaza was officially released on 29 September after the talks between Trump and Netanyahu at the White House.
The main highlights of the plan that was accepted by Israel include the release of hostages and the remains of those who died in captivity, a surge in delivering humanitarian aid along the lines agreed upon in the previous ceasefire agreement of 19 January (not less than 600 trucks per day), the disarmament of Hamas, which would have no role in administering Gaza, the establishment of a Board of Peace to supervise the administration of Gaza under a local Palestinian authority independent of the National Palestinian Authority that has to reform before getting back to rule Gaza. This board would be chaired by Trump with selected members.
The withdrawal of Israeli forces would take place in two stages: the first would be limited in nature, the second would follow once the local Palestinian agency proves it is capable of running Gaza.
The Israeli prime minister stressed on various occasions during the joint press conference with Trump after the conclusion of their meeting that Israel accepted the peace plan because it meets all the war aims of Israel.
Both Trump and Netanyahu agreed that if Hamas rejects the plan, Israel will “finish the job”, that is to destroy Hamas.
In concluding his remarks, the Israeli prime minister expressed his belief that Israel and the US working together could change the Middle East and have the opportunity to “energise” the Abraham Accords.
Taken together, the peace plan necessitates an agreement on the steps to be followed by all the parties concerned and their sequencing.
However, the plan as it stands is an important step on the road of peace and security.
The writer is former assistant foreign minister.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 2 October, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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