Internationalising the Administration is a Step Toward Palestinian Statehood – But Freedom Still Distant

Israel’s acceptance of President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for the Gaza Strip broke a long-standing taboo: Israel’s fierce opposition to international intervention in administering the occupied Palestinian territories. This opposition rested on its absurd belief that what occurs in these territories is purely an internal Israeli matter. 

A shift toward a hybrid system of local and international governance represents a crucial step toward Palestinian statehood.

Since 1967, Israel has consistently rejected international involvement in managing the occupied territories. A significant flaw in the Oslo Accords was the absence of any international body to monitor their implementation and enforce progress toward final status agreements. This gap left two vastly unequal parties to manage the process on their own, allowing Israel to dominate the Palestinian Authority and exploit the accords to deepen its apartheid system.

Until now, the international community’s primary role has been to relieve Israel of the financial burden of supporting the Palestinian population and the Palestinian Authority. This arrangement enabled Israel to continue its occupation and apartheid policies without bearing the associated costs.

Meanwhile, the international community mostly took a passive stance, restricting its criticism of Israel’s human rights violations to verbal condemnations and limited funding of human rights organisations and advocacy groups. None of these measures have tackled the root cause of the violations: the denial of political rights to Palestinians.

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The unprecedented scale of destruction and horror in Gaza’s recent war – and its significant political reverberations worldwide – has compelled the international community to take on a more active role beyond mere financial support. 

According to Trump's plan, the Gaza Strip would be temporarily administered by a Palestinian technocratic and apolitical committee under international supervision; an international team of experts would be appointed to develop a comprehensive economic plan for Gaza’s reconstruction; and a temporary international stabilization force would be established to train and support Palestinian forces.

Unable to refuse the US President’s demands, Israel is, for the first time, consenting to an arrangement that, if implemented, could to some extent curtail its long-standing unchecked aggression and dominance – under international oversight and with foreign boots on the ground.

However, genuine progress toward Palestinian statehood is impossible if the international community abandons the West Bank, leaving it in the hands of apartheid leaders like Smotrich and Ben Gvir. The international coalition of Arab, Muslim and Western countries that convinced Trump to advance the Gaza initiative should now promote a parallel effort in the West Bank and link the two initiatives.

Delaying action until the full end of the occupation and the dismantling of settlements is not an option, as with each passing day, they only grow more entrenched. At least during an interim period, active international engagement is essential to weaken Israel's firm grip and lay the groundwork for a Palestinian state. 

Without such engagement, the Palestinian Authority lacks the capacity and resources to effectively resist Israeli power and aggression.

For instance, just as Israel will not hold authority over planning and reconstruction in Gaza, the international coalition should demand an immediate halt to the demolition of Palestinian structures in the West Bank – a long-standing practice used as a tool of ethnic cleansing. Planning authority in Palestinian communities across the West Bank should be fully transferred to Palestinian councils supported by international experts. 

The international coalition should assist in funding and implementing the decisions made by these planning councils. This shift would allow the coalition to directly address the developmental harm and planning inequities caused by 58 years of Israeli occupation, and to end the untenable situation in which international donors fund public infrastructure in Palestinian communities, only for Israel to deny permits and demolish the structures.

The Oslo Accords established several Israeli-Palestinian committees to manage resources, the economy and infrastructure in the West Bank, while also leaving critical land and population registries under Israeli control. Over time, these mechanisms have been weaponised by Israel to enforce demographic changes, exploit resources, and advance settlement expansion. These responsibilities should now be swiftly transferred to Palestinian management, supported by international experts, while the international coalition assists in funding and implementing the decisions made by these bodies.

It is especially urgent to establish a temporary international stabilisation force to support Palestinian Authority security forces across all Palestinian communities, mirroring the plan for Gaza. One key factor enabling the recent surge in pogroms and terror attacks by Israeli extremists in Palestinian villages is the absence of Palestinian security forces enforcing the law and protecting residents. 

In August 2022, on behalf of 10 Palestinian human rights activists from the village of Issawiya in East Jerusalem, four Israeli human rights organisations and over a hundred Israeli activists, I appealed to the UN Security Council to establish a special international peacekeeping force tasked with protecting residents from attacks by Israeli security forces and far-right extremists. 

Although the letter had zero chance of success, it was a desperate cry against the suffering of a community where no family has escaped violence – whether through property destruction, arrests, injuries or killings by Israeli forces.

An international stabilisation force could assist Palestinian Authority security forces in protecting civilians from terror attacks and pogroms carried out by Israeli extremists, while also placing limits on the ability of Israeli security forces to operate without restraint or for political purposes – given that all military operations would need to be coordinated with the international force.

These are just a few options the emerging international coalition could consider in coordination with the Palestinian leadership. Although it remains unclear whether President Trump’s plan will be implemented – and, if so, to what extent – every crack in the wall Israel has built over 58 years of occupation and apartheid should be widened until it ultimately collapses.

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