Arab Center Washington DC writer addresses UN Security Council vote on Gaza

The Arab Center Washington DC published an in-depth analysis of the impact and legal basis for the recent UN Security Council’s adoption of Resolution 2803, which defines how the Gaza Strip will be monitored moving forward.

The Resolution was approved on Monday, Nov. 17, 2025 by all members of the UN Security Council except China and Russia which abstained from the vote.

The author is Brian Brivati who is the Executive Director, Britain Palestine Project.

Brivati writes: “The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution 2803 on Gaza governance and a ‘credible pathway’ to Palestinian self-determination notably omits the foundational body of UN resolutions that establish” and presents the following omissions.

• the inadmissibility of acquiring territory by force,
• the illegality of Israeli settlements,
• the baseline of the 1967 borders,
• the legal status of the Palestinian people as a State,
• and the UN’s and UNWRA’s central humanitarian and political role in Gaza.

“It also makes no mention of war crimes, crimes against humanity, the crime of starvation or genocide. It is not unusual that it does not mention ICJ and ICC cases, advisory opinions and provisional measures. It is unprecedented that it does not spell out and reaffirm previous UNSC resolutions,” Brivati writes in his analysis posted by the Arab Center Washington DC.

“In international law, the fact that the resolution does not cite earlier Security Council and General Assembly resolutions does not repeal or diminish the legal force of those texts, nor does it alter Israel’s obligations as an occupying power or Palestine’s status under GA 67/19. However, the omissions significantly narrow the legal framework within this specific resolution.”

Brivadi writes, “By declining to reaffirm 242, 338, 2334, 1860, 2712, 2720, 2728 and 67/19, the Council has produced a text that operates on a thinner legal foundation, one that foregrounds security and governance sequencing while remaining silent on borders, occupation, settlement illegality and UN-led humanitarian authority.”

Click this link to read the analysis.

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Ray Hanania

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Ray Hanania is an award-winning columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.  

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