In a historic move that has left diplomats and analysts stunned, the United Nations Security Council has passed one of the most unusual resolutions in its history, granting former US President Donald Trump supreme control over Gaza through a newly established "Board of Peace".
The Unprecedented Resolution
Resolution 2803, passed on Tuesday evening with a 13-0 vote and abstentions from Russia and China, represents a radical departure from traditional peacekeeping approaches. The resolution aims to transform the precarious Gaza ceasefire into an enduring peace plan, but does so through mechanisms that bypass conventional UN structures.
At the heart of the arrangement is Trump's self-proclaimed "board of peace", which will exercise control over the Gaza Strip for a period of two years. The board will oversee multinational peacekeeping troops, a committee of Palestinian technocrats, and a local police force, though remarkably, no other board members have been named beyond Trump's declaration that it will include "the most powerful and respected Leaders throughout the World".
Vague Mandate, Concrete Challenges
The resolution establishes an International Stabilisation Force (ISF) that the United States hopes to deploy by January, though potential contributing nations including Egypt, Indonesia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates have shown only tentative interest. The ISF faces the daunting task of "ensuring the process of demilitarising Gaza", putting them on a potential collision course with Hamas, which has already stated it will not disarm.
Compounding the challenges, the resolution provides little clarity on the Palestinian technocratic committee that will handle day-to-day governance in Gaza. Finding administrators who both command respect among Gaza's 2.2 million surviving Palestinians and are willing to work under Trump's leadership presents a significant hurdle.
The resolution comes after two years of Israeli bombardment that has left over 70,000 dead and approximately 70% of buildings destroyed in the coastal territory, with a UN commission finding that Israel has committed genocide.
Diplomatic Reactions and Future Implications
While US envoy Mike Waltz described the resolution as "transformative", other Security Council members expressed more cautious support. European diplomats saw a minor victory in getting the Trump administration to acknowledge the possibility of Palestinian self-determination and statehood, though the language describing it was distant and conditional.
The resolution states that if the Palestinian Authority reforms satisfactorily and Gaza's rebuilding advances, "conditions may be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood". This wording proved too much for the extreme right of Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, forcing the prime minister to reiterate his objections to Palestinian sovereignty.
Veteran US negotiator Aaron David Miller noted that despite implementation uncertainties, the resolution reflects "two new realities - Trump has internationalized the Gaza component of Palestinian issue and supported a two state solution as an end state".
Many governments supporting the resolution hope that by engaging with Trump's plan, they can maintain humanitarian assistance flows to Gaza while keeping prospects for lasting peace and Palestinian statehood alive. Their strategy appears to involve riding what one diplomat called "the tiger of the American president's ego" in hopes of eventually steering the process toward their desired outcomes.
