The council endorsed Donald Trump’s neo-colonial governing board over a territory that he said should be depopulated to make way for his resort fantasy to be built on the bones of the victims of Israel’s genocide, reports Joe Lauria.
The vote at the U.N. Security Council on Monday, with the U.S. envoy Mike Walz at center. (U.N. Photo/Loey Filipe)
This is a breaking story, come back for updates. Scroll down for video of the full meeting with speeches by Council members.
By Joe Lauria
Special to Consortium News
CN at 30
The United Nations Security Council on Monday adopted a resolution that gives the world body’s imprimatur to Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza, a territory he said publicly should be ethnically cleansed to develop a Mediterranean resort.
The council voted 13 nations in favor with two abstentions from China and Russia, which could have vetoed Trump’s plans.
The resolution essentially revives the colonial mandate system of the League of Nations after the First World War, and the United Nations’ trusteeship system after the Second World War, both schemes in which colonial powers remained in charge of a colonized territory while it was supposed to wean it towards independence.
The resolution that passed on Monday says “conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood.”
The resolution “welcomes” the establishment of a Board of Peace (BoP) “as a transitional administration” in Gaza to coordinate reconstruction. The resolution authorizes the board to set up a temporary International Stabilization Force (ISF) in Gaza “to deploy under unified command acceptable to the BoP.” Though the resolution does not say who will head the BoP, Trump has made it clear that he would be running it himself.
Nations will contribute troops to the force “in close consultation and cooperation” with Egypt and Israel. But it will be Donald Trump who ultimately gets to call the shots of this international military force.
[See: Jeffery Sachs: Trump’s UN Ploy]
Among the Trump-run forces’ tasks is to demilitarize Gaza by decommissioning weapons and destroying military infrastructure. In a statement reacting to the resolution, Hamas said: “The resolution imposes an international guardianship mechanism on the Gaza Strip, which our people and their factions reject.” Hamas says it has a legal right under international law, which it does, to resist Israel’s occupation with force if necessary.
If the stabilization force actually tries to disarm Hamas we could be looking at armed combat between them. The U.N.-approved force would in essence then be taking up the unfinished job of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to defeat Hamas.
In step with Hamas’ disarmament, the IDF is supposed to withdraw from Gaza, according to the measure. An annex to the resolution says Palestinians cannot be forcibly expelled from Gaza and Israel can neither annex nor continue to occupy Gaza, according to the remarks to the council by Algeria’s ambassador.
An expert Arab committee with take part with Trump’s board in running Gaza until the Palestinian Authority takes full control. Israel took part in the meeting as a guest but did not have a vote.
Why Russia Abstained
Security Council meeting and nations’ statements. The Russian envoy speaks at 1hr, 15m.
The U.S. draft resolution initially did not mention possible future, Palestinian sovereignty, but it was added after opposition from Arab states and other countries. That addition allowed the Arabs, and importantly the Palestinian Authority, to back the resolution. That led Russia, which had opposed the initial draft, to drop the threat of its veto and China joined in abstaining.
In explaining his abstention to the Council, Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Russia “has taken note of Ramallah’s position, as well as that of many Arab-Muslim States that spoke in favor of the American draft so as to avoid renewed bloodshed in the enclave. In this regard, we chose not to submit our own draft, which was aimed at amending the US concept to bring it in conformity with long-standing UN resolutions agreed previously.”
Bur he also complained that the stabilization force would not coordinate with the Palestinian Authority.
“This may entrench the separation of the Gaza Strip from the West Bank, and it is reminiscent of colonial practices and the British mandate for Palestine granted by the League of Nations, when the opinions of the Palestinians themselves were not taken into account whatsoever,” he said.
Nebenzia also raised an alarm about the force become engaged in the war. “The resolution … confers on the ISF such extensive peace enforcement mandate that the Mission may actually transform into a party to the conflict going beyond the confines of peacekeeping,” he said. The Russian envoy blamed the U.S. for “arm-twisting in capitals or pressuring delegations here in New York,” which he said can “hardly be called working in good faith.”
Nebenzia said:
“In essence, the Council is giving its blessing to the US initiative relying exclusively on Washington’s honor, we leave the Gaza Strip at the mercy of the Board of Peace and the ISF, whose working methods are still unknown to us.
The most important thing here is making sure that this document does not become a smokescreen for unbridled experiments by the US and Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT) nor turn into a death sentence for the two-state solution.” … There is no cause for celebration: today is a sorrowful day for the Security Council. Besides the wishes of the parties concerned, there is also such notion as the integrity of the Security Council. And today, with the adoption of this resolution, that integrity and the prerogatives of the Council have been undermined. …
Regrettably, we’ve already had the unfortunate experience when decisions on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which were pushed through by the US, led to the opposite to what was intended. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
PA & Arabs Agree
The PA has long collaborated with Israel in its occupation of the West Bank. Its long-standing opposition to Hamas’ resistance makes it amenable to the United States taking control of Gaza to run it with Israel if the Authority is given a seat at the table.
That, however is not a sure thing as the extremists in Israel’s cabinet blew a fuse when it saw that a mere mention — a throwaway line — about some distant possibility of recognizing Palestine was added to the resolution. Netanyahu himself on Sunday reiterated his opposition to the Palestinian state and vowed that it would never come to pass.
How his government will proceed with U.S. administration of Gaza will be of the greatest interest. As Netanyahu is loudly insisting that Hamas will disarm the “easy way or the hard way,” it will bear watching whether the IDF, which occupies half of Gaza, and the international force, with the Palestinian Authority’s blessings, join arms to fight Hamas to crush the last of the violent resistance to Israeli dominance over Palestine.
Joe Lauria is editor-in-chief of Consortium News and a former U.N. correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, and other newspapers, including The Montreal Gazette, the London Daily Mail and The Star of Johannesburg. He was an investigative reporter for the Sunday Times of London, a financial reporter for Bloomberg News and began his professional work as a 19-year old stringer for The New York Times. He is the author of two books, A Political Odyssey, with Sen. Mike Gravel, foreword by Daniel Ellsberg; and How I Lost By Hillary Clinton, foreword by Julian Assange.
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Even with Russia’s ‘thoughtful’ explanation for its refusal to use the veto, quoted at length in the article, there were a number of reasons for suspicion given by the Russian spokesman to make it highly questionable for them to refuse to veto. Russia more than any other country in the world knows the US cannot be trusted. However, another factor may be in play. With the Trump peace plan for Russia and Ukraine, which former Swiss intelligence officer Col. Jacques Baud elaborates on in the link below, it is quite possible that Russia did not want to challenge the US on the Gaza plan in the UNSC resolution…because Russia now has bigger fish to fry close to home. The Trump plan for Ukraine recognizes the ‘realist’ view of who is winning in Ukraine, and the peace proposal is weighted in Russia’s favor, though as Baud and Diesen point out, not as much as the far right in Russia would insist on if they had the power to do so: hxxps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKWMvqSWM78
Israeli leaders LOVE this BS plan. Anything to give Trump a reward he can brag about and take away in short order so they can continue to eradicate Palestinians.
I keep hearing people say Israel’s on its last legs and can’t figure out what they’re talking about.
One can’t avoid the suspicion that Russia has been given a reliable guarantee about some aspect of the Ukraine crisis.
Russia and China were reluctant to veto a proposal which had been endorsed by friendly Arab and Muslim governments, undoubtedly g under extreme pressure including threats and bribes. Nonetheless, the plan is only in its initial stage and is unworkable beyond that. There was no need to vet because the ultra-right in Israel will ensure that the Netanyahu regime prevents it from ever going forward.
No doubt, itsa sickening day!!! “How f/Dare the UNSC?” Elevating Trump’s-Vance’s, Inc., command of deception, destruction, death of Palestine’s plant, animal & human life, in a heartbeat. It’s f/indefensible. The siege must fall!
Everybody, knows, Trump’s-Vance’s Inc., past & present, “piece” plan is a war of subjugation. “Whatever it takes,” to conquer, dominate, “rule by brute force,” occupy the Palestinians’ homeland, fm the river to the sea; &, suppress resistance, thereto, by force, control, authority IS what rock’s the sadistic, unstable, bloody-orange, malignant narcissist’s world! “Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it,” Reichsmarschall Donald “Bloody-Orange” Trump.
Hear! Hear!! “There is no cause for celebration: today is a sorrowful day for the Security Council. Besides the wishes of the parties concerned, there is also such notion as the integrity of the Security Council. And today, with the adoption of this resolution, that integrity and the prerogatives of the Council have been undermined.” Vassily Nebenzia.
The US guy delivered fallacies and more lies. One would think we were hearing words from the novel “1984.” Perhaps 2025 is the new 1984. There is no peace in Gaza and the Occupied West Bank. Trump’s plan is nonsense. It was written by realtors to make money, not save lives.
In step and on parade, the Bakers Dozen masquerade.
The Patricians and the Tribunes of the Plebs,
Ensconced around the table breaking bread,
And form a conclave to conciliate King Herod.
Sweet-meats, kebabs and wine (like blood) goes to their heads,
A toga’d bacchanal for hostages, in thrall,
Enthralled obeisances are led, for sweet and sour promises,
Prostrate in adorations of the Munjeet President.
Oh, the verifiable stain of their abstentions,
The voided marks and murk of their pretensions,
How goes the vaunted foes of fascism ?
So fastidious and shy, the coquettes glances whistle-by.
None of this bodes well for Palestinians! Regarding your sub headline, Joe, “Why
Russia Abstained” and given Nebenzia’s comments, which certainly suggest disapproval,
why did Russia abstain? Am I missing something? Thanks for another terrific CN analysis!
“The U.S. draft resolution initially did not mention possible future, Palestinian sovereignty, but it was added after opposition from Arab states and other countries. That addition allowed the Arabs, and importantly the Palestinian Authority, to back the resolution. That led Russia, which had opposed the initial draft, to drop the threat of its veto and China joined in abstaining.”
Nebenzia said: “Russia has taken note of Ramallah’s position, as well as that of many Arab-Muslim States that spoke in favor of the American draft so as to avoid renewed bloodshed in the enclave. In this regard, we chose not to submit our own draft, which was aimed at amending the US concept to bring it in conformity with long-standing UN resolutions agreed previously.”
While this would not satisfy Palestinians for they love their homeland, we should offer them a home here in the US to compensate for all that we have contributed to their losing in Palestine. What Israel and the US have done to these people sickens me.
Except that in the US, Donald Trump, who is a very cruel brute, would have ICE pick them all up and fly them to Somalia or Colombia or somewhere.
Relying on “Washington’s honor” for peace?
Get out your beach chairs and make your “hotel
Trump” reservations, but don’t mind the bones.
Protecting Palestine is going to save us because it’s an attitude of caring that is also the way forward. It is the pathway to the future, IMO.
Humanity has never been in greater peril. The world has been seized by power hungry lunatics. Something’s gotta give. This is not sustainable.
That’s capitalism. It is all the fault of capitalism and imperialism. Capitalism and imperialism are the enemy of the world.
jean ziegler, the swiss sociologist, author and
former UN rapporteur on the right to food,
[and fidel castro’s chauffeur for some time],
called our world order “cannibalistic!” decades ago.
maybe it is even worse bc, to my knowledge,
cannibals never killed their conspecifics in
numbers as large as we have been killing ours,
with nuclear, ‘the mother of all’, 2000-pound,
or any other cursed! bombs.
The bottom line is that under international law (for what it’s worth), the Palestinians have the right to resist.
So for the past couple years now the United States has been totally isolated in it position on Palestine. I genuinely don’t understand how this happened, this seems like a complete inversion on the way things have been going at the security council recently.
Cutting to the chase:
According to this article, the Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, quite forthrightly, and rightly so, said it all.
The deeper and very troubling questions are:
As one of the only 5 permanent members of the “United Nations” Security Council with any real power to effect, as well as, and more importantly to affect, why did Russia not veto the U.S. instigated draft resolution?
Why is Russia still trusting anything the U.S. says when its behaviors internationally are, have, and continue to be the very opposite of its rhetoric?
An even more deeply troubling question is: Why is the world, led by the nose by the U.S., doing the same thing again; not expecting actual different results from what the U.S. is preaching?
How is it that the global populace, more especially Americans, who, seeing themselves as exceptional, therefore, ought to know better, yet still hold contradictory beliefs about U.S. behavior, despite the facts on the ground literally punching them in the gut?
If not now, “when will they ever learn” to NOT go against their own interests?
What the passage of this U.N. resolution once again indicates, is that it is NOT, and has NEVER been a truly democratic institution, wherein all supposedly sovereign and independent member states’ votes carry the same weight.
The victors of the worlds most devastating war, so far, among themselves colluded in framing what U.N. policy would be, and more specifically, how it would be carried forth; purportedly in the best interests of all the people of world.
Obviously, the lesson has NOT been learned.
Does it not demonstrate that having a “seat at the table” means not a whit where boldfaced, morally reprehensible, power rules.
The underdogs in all global populations, it appears, are always the “canons” fodder!
I agree with your comment totally. I am sick of seeing the Palestinians so disregarded and humiliated by the UN.
Israel has been wrecking the established laws of war with abandon since 1948 and acts with impunity, as it knows the US will come to its defence whatever they do. The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court of Justice is currently seeking an arrest warrant for Gallant, as well as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The charges include efforts to exterminate the people of Gaza through planned starvation. It is not even disguised but openly stated by minister after minister.
If Trump were to force Israel to repatriate all Palestinians expelled since 1948, returning them to the homes that Israel now illegally occupies with Jewish settlers, then a genuine, lasting peace could be achieved. Israel is not so much living on borrowed land but living on stolen land. That land belongs to the Palestinians.
Zionism is metastasizing into a world-wide plague.
well stated, thank you.
I agree, Choice words. Zionism is the foremost evil in the world today as evidenced by another UN resolution… 99.99999% written by that “silent guest” in every country…..Israel.
Pasasites & profiteers take overt control as a cowed and spineless world obediently covers its collective eyes, ears and mouth in homage to its previously-occulted owners.
Today, Palestinian children are made targets. Rest assured, tomorrow it will be yours and mine.
Dark days ahead.
My only solace, hope in the trope: “it’s always darkest before dawn” – Thomas Fuller, A Pisgah-Sight of Palestine and the Confines Thereof, 1869.
Useless spineless Arabs!
They’re worse than spineless. They are selfish, complicit and corrupt.
It is perhaps telling that the proposed Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration, and Transformation Trust (“GREAT Trust”) planning to implement the “Gaza Riviera” scheme that has likely been brewing for around a decade or longer, per the words of Paolo Zampolli (see Mark Goodwin and Whitney Webb, “First Friends: How the First Couple’s Consigliere Went From Modeling Mogul to Special Envoy,” Unlimited Hangout, Aug. 26, 2025, as well as my comment on that article regarding Zampolli’s connections to the Diddy- and Joe Francis-associated, Betar-affiliated PR flack Ronn Torossian), reads like a veritable Carlyle Group-type assemblage of oligarchic interests, and in particular that one of the main prospective investors poised to become a beneficiary of the construction projects to take place there is no less than the Saudi Binladin Group.
I suspect that the internal influence that continues to be exerted by the Chabad-Lubavitchers and other pro-Zionist elements within Russia (for instance, see Yasha Levine, “The Neocon, The Messiah, and Cory Booker,” NSFWCORP, Aug. 25, 2013; “Putin Fires Top Official Who Described Chabad as a Supremacist Cult,” The Times of Israel, Jan. 21, 2023; and “Rabbi Lazar Awarded Order of Honor by President Putin,” Anash, Nov. 6, 2025), and the ongoing extensive integration of the Israeli and Chinese economies since the era of the GeoMiliTech Consultants Corporation (for instance, see Tim Weiner, “U.S. Used Secret Global Network to Arm Afghans,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, Mar. 12, 2009; Roie Yellinek, “The Israel-China-U.S. Triangle and the Haifa Port Project,” Middle East Institute (MEI), Nov. 27, 2018; and Chapter 17 (“Epstein’s Enterprise?”), in Whitney Webb, “One Nation Under Blackmail, Vol. 2,” published by TrineDay Press in 2022), were also factors in those states’ respective abstentions.
They will say one thing then do as they please.
Excellent analysis, Joe. It is shocking that even those not overt US vassals, who could have stopped this, chose to throw prohibitions against genocide, ethnic, cleansing, colonialism, as well as human rights and national self-determinism onto the rubbish pile of history. And they did this at great cost to themselves, for the love of Israel and Greater Impunity.
Surely, Russia and China would re-discover their veto if the UNSC grants a Trump “Board of Governors” ownership of Taiwan or Crimea, but now they’ve lost credibility by choosing to placate evil and participate in the hypocrisy Olypmics. Dark day for all humanity.
I thought after Russia and China didn’t exercise their veto over Libya, they said never again would they refrain. A dark day indeed.
Written before Oct 7, about Ukraine, but the same question urgently applies:
hxxps://covertactionmagazine.com/2023/08/11/on-the-brink-of-world-war-does-the-un-still-have-a-raison-detre/
We can be sure that Palestinians will NOT be invited to come live in the USA.
I know that, but it would be a just solution, just as it would have been a just solution to make a Jewish homeland in Bavaria after the second world war, rather than steal the land of another people.