The UN Security Council will vote on a resolution in support of US President Donald Trump's peace plan for Gaza, diplomats quoted by NOVA reported.
Last week, the Americans officially began negotiations within the 15-member Security Council on a text that would follow the ceasefire in the war between Israel and "Hamas", which has been going on for two years, and would ratify Trump's plan.
A draft resolution seen by AFP "welcomes the creation of the Peace Board" - a transitional governing body for Gaza, which would theoretically be chaired by Trump, with a mandate until end of 2027.
The text would authorize member states to establish a “interim International Stabilization Force (ISF)“ to work with Israel, Egypt and newly trained Palestinian police units to ensure the protection of border areas and the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip. Unlike previous options, the latter mentions the possibility of a future Palestinian state.
The United States and several Arab and Muslim countries, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, urged the Security Council on Friday to quickly adopt the resolution.
“The United States, Qatar, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Jordan and Turkey express our common support for the Security Council resolution currently under consideration,“ the countries said in a joint statement, adding that they urged “its timely acceptance“.
Friday's joint statement comes as Russia is circulating a competing draft among council members that does not authorize the creation of a peace board or the immediate deployment of an international force in Gaza, according to a text seen by AFP. The Russian version welcomes "the initiative that led to the ceasefire" but does not mention Trump by name. It also calls only on the UN secretary-general to submit a report examining the possibilities of deploying an international stabilization force in war-torn Gaza.
The United States has called the ceasefire "fragile" and warned on Friday of the risks of not recognizing its draft.
“Any refusal to support this resolution is a vote either for the continuation of the rule of the terrorists by “Hamas” or for a return to war with Israel, which would doom the region and its peoples of perpetual conflict“, wrote US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz in the “Washington Post“.
“Any deviation from this path, whether by those who want to play political games or who want to revise the past, will have a real human cost“, he added.
While it has so far appeared that Council members support the principles of the peace plan, diplomatic sources note that there are questions about the American project — particularly the lack of a Council monitoring mechanism, the role of the Palestinian Authority and details of the ISF's mandate.
The Russian mission to the UN said in a statement that its alternative proposal differs by recognizing the principle of a “two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict“.
“Unfortunately, these points were not given due attention in the American project“, the text says.