But it will hopefully be a step ahead on the way to making the current, shaky ceasefire in Gaza permanent. There is a near world consensus that Netanyahu’s extremist government does not want to end the war in Gaza and will find all sorts of excuses to restart the daily onslaught of the Palestinian people, especially now that an election is coming up that Netanyahu hopes will redeem him from charges of corruption and the responsibility for failing to prevent the 7 October, 2023 attacks by Hamas.
Even before voting on the Security Council Resolution 2803/2025 took place in New York, Netanyahu and his fanatic ministers declared they would not abide by it because, after obliging the Palestinian Authority to carry out a set of reforms over an unspecified period of time, it states that “the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood.”
This was enough for Netanyahu and his ministers to attack the resolution that many Palestinians see as placing their future in the hands of the US, favouring Israeli interests and absolving Israel of its crimes against them. Excessive displays of racist hatred by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir among other members of the government followed. “If they accelerate the recognition of this fabricated (Palestinian) state, if the UN recognises this, you, Mr prime minister, must order targeted assassinations of senior Palestinian Authority officials, who are terrorists in every way, and you... must order the arrest of Abu Mazen (Abbas),” Ben Gvir said during a press conference at the Knesset on Sunday.
Israeli moves to sabotage the resolution ahead of its approval are taking place while the parties involved in negotiating the ceasefire since the Sharm El-Sheikh of 13 October are prioritising the need to alleviate the catastrophic suffering of Palestinians in Gaza after two years of genocidal war on them. The Trump administration has reiterated that the resolution would have been impossible to achieve without support from Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Turkey, Pakistan and Indonesia — all expected to play a vital role in both the reconstruction of Gaza, a massive, extremely costly mission, and forming the newly established International Stabilisation Force (ISF). But for the plan to work Israel must carry out its commitments and limit its goals to the demilitarisation of Gaza and disarming Hamas.
Foremost among those commitments is Israel’s gradual withdrawal from the entire Gaza Strip, including along the Egyptian border. The Trump plan links the further withdrawal of Israeli troops to milestones agreed on by members of the newly created Board of Peace headed by the US president, except for a so-called security parameter along the border that must not be permanent because it would be a violation of both the Trump plan and the peace treaty signed between Egypt and Israel in 1979.
Recent reports widely circulated in the Israeli media have also referred to US and Israeli plans to start reconstruction in areas currently under Israel’s control only, nearly 53 per cent of Gaza, behind the newly created illusory “yellow line” where the vast majority of two million Palestinians are squeezed in unacceptably miserable living conditions. Those unconfirmed plans envision building new, “alternative” communities in the Israeli occupied parts of Gaza, later persuading Palestinians living under Hamas’ control to move gradually to them.
This is simply nonsense and a prescription for the collapse of the entire plan before the start of its implementation. Palestinians who endured two years of relentless bombing, deprived of their most basic needs by Israel, are hardly likely to choose to live under Israeli occupation, and the Arab and Muslim nations that have supported Trump’s plan will not be part of a plan to make Israel’s occupation of any part of Gaza permanent or long term.
Those nations agreed to back the new UN resolution on condition that it provides a roadmap to an independent Palestinian state, which is seen by practically the whole world countries as the only viable permanent solution for decades of conflict between the Palestinians and Israel. Gaza must not only be free of Israel’s occupation, it should also be freely connected to the Occupied West Bank, creating a single entity with Occupied East Jerusalem as its capital. Allowing Israel to remain as an occupation force in over half of Gaza with the claim of building new communities there is therefore clearly a non-starter.
Similarly, Arab and Muslim nations have expressed willingness to take part in the formation of a stabilisation force, but under no circumstances to become occupation force of the Palestinian people on Israel’s behalf. In both Trump’s plan and the new resolution, this force will primarily provide protection to the Palestinian people, ensuring the flow of humanitarian aid and securing Gaza’s borders. In the face of all the obstacles the current Israeli government is expected to come up to fail it, the plan requires an iron-clad commitment by the White House to carry it out in its entirety, not just the parts that the Israeli side highlights in relation to Hamas’ disarmament.
As one speaker after another rightly noted in their speeches after the approval of Security Council Resolution 2803, a true and permanent settlement for the Palestinian question can never be achieved without meeting the just demands of the Palestinian people, topped by ending Israel’s racist occupation and recognising the Palestinians’ legitimate right to their own independent state. If that’s not the approach to dealing with the new resolution, then it will be just another number added to the long list of Security Council resolutions that, giving the Palestinian people justice, were never carried out. Even worse, the state of war that threatens regional and international peace and security will remain open-ended, jeopardising the interests of all parties.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 20 November, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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