Though Palestinian statehood remains a non-starter, the U.S. scheme is likely to result in part of the coastal enclave remaining in the hands of Hamas, not usher in an era of peace.
President Donald Trump got his way at the U.N. Security Council on Monday when it approved his 20-point plan for the future of the Gaza Strip. The resolution endorsed the deal that secured a ceasefire in the war that followed the Hamas-led Palestinian Arab terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. With Russia and China abstaining rather than vetoing the measure, Trump received the world body’s endorsement for, among other points, the creation of an International Stabilization Force to police Gaza and a Board of Peace to govern it.
The president celebrated the vote in typically hyperbolic fashion, declaring: “This will go down as one of the biggest approvals in the history of the United Nations, will lead to further peace all over the world, and is a moment of true historic proportion.”
Trump is also pleased with the closer relations that he has achieved with Saudi Arabia. The kingdom’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman (known as MBS), arrived in Washington the next day for friendly meetings with Trump, discussing, among other things, a major arms sale, and then a gala state dinner where memories of the hostility of the Biden administration toward Riyadh and its royal family were officially buried.