UNITED NATIONS, Nov 16 (APP): The UN Security Council is set to vote on Monday afternoon on a U.S.-drafted resolution related to a Gaza ceasefire plan, which includes a provision for an International Stabilization Force (ISF) and a transitional governing body called a “Board of Peace”.
The 15-member Council will meet at 5 pm (local time, 3 a.m. Pakistan time Tuesday) after weeks of discussion on the U.S. proposal.
Ahead of the vote, eight Arab and non-Arab countries, including Pakistan, issued a joint statement which came after the U.S. faced objections and subsequently made changes to its draft resolution to include more defined language on Palestinian self-determination, according to Council diplomats. The other countries backing the proposal are: Qatar, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Jordan and Turkiye, with Pakistan being the only country on the Council.
In this regard, Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, who has been involved in intense negotiations in the process, said that Islamabad policy on the issue has been clear and unambiguous.
As Coordinator of the elected members of the Security Council for November, he organized a luncheon meeting with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that also includes five elected members who will take their seats on January 1, 2026. Later, the Palestinian Ambassador, Riyad Mansour, had a meeting with the Pakistani envoy.
“Pakistan’s consistent policy, and every action pursuant to it, is for a just and lasting resolution of the Palestinian question based on international legitimacy – Palestinian self-determination and establishment of a sovereign, independent and contiguous State of Palestine based on pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital,” Ambassador Ahmad said, while speaking to APP correspondent.
“That’s the only route to durable peace and stability in the region,” the Pakistani envoy said.
Meanwhile, the position of Russia on the U.S. draft remains unclear. Moscow has circulated a rival proposal that would remove reference to a transitional authority meant to be headed by President Donald Trump and asks the United Nations to lay out options for an international stabilization force.
A Security Council resolution needs nine affirmative votes to pass, and this must include the concurring votes of all five permanent members (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States).
Under its terms, the resolution would authorize member states to form a temporary ISF to help secure border areas, coordinate humanitarian aid flow, and support the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, working with newly trained Palestinian police and in consultation with Israel and Egypt.
A transitional governing body for Gaza, which, in theory, would be chaired by President Trump and have a mandate running until the end of 2027.
US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said failure to endorse the plan, which would deliver Gaza to an International Stabilization Force (ISF) and an apolitical Palestinian administration overseen by a Trump-chaired Board of Peace, amounted to support for Hamas and for war.
“Any refusal to back this resolution is a vote either for the continued reign of Hamas terrorists or for the return to war with Israel, condemning the region and its people to perpetual conflict,” wrote Waltz in the Washington Post on Friday.
“Every departure from this path, be it by those who wish to play political games or to re-litigate the past, will come with a real human cost,” Waltz wrote.
The US officially launched negotiations within the 15-member Security Council on draft resolution last week following up on Israel and Hamas’s October 9 ceasefire-hostage agreement.
That agreement has seen Israel stage an initial withdrawal in Gaza and Hamas release the last 20 hostages abducted on October 7, 2023.
The US draft includes the entirety of Trump’s 20-point plan, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also endorsed in a joint press conference with the president in September.
The draft authorized member states working with the Board of Peace to “establish a temporary International Stabilization Force,” and indicated the board’s mandate would run through the end of 2027. Countries that expressed willingness to contribute troops to the ISF have said they would need a UN resolution enshrining the force.
The ceasefire plan included in the draft also says that, as Gaza is demilitarized and rebuilt and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority “faithfully” reforms itself, “the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood.”
