Feminists must resist the US-Israeli colonial plan for Gaza
20 November 2025
After over two years of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, on 17 November 2025 with 13 votes and 2 abstentions, the UN Security Council adopted UNSCR 2803. The resolution:
- Endorsed the US-backed “Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict,” applauded “the states that have signed, accepted, or endorsed it,” and called on all parties to implement it in its entirety;
- Welcomed the “historic Trump Declaration for Enduring Peace and Prosperity”;
- Welcomed the US-backed “Board of Peace” as a transitional administration; and
- Authorised the Board and Member States working with it to establish a temporary International Stabilization Force in Gaza.
This plan for Gaza, which has now been partially endorsed by the UN Security Council, clearly violates international law. It enshrines impunity for Israel’s illegal occupation, apartheid regime, and genocide, and authorises a colonial protectorate administration over Gaza that would enable Israel, with the support of the United States and other actors, to continue its plans for ethnic cleansing. As Al-Shabaka has noted, the plan “rewards the US, a co-perpetrator of genocide, with control over Gaza and its potentially lucrative reconstruction process, while simultaneously relieving the Israeli regime of all of its responsibilities as an illegally occupying force.”
Furthermore, as articulated by the Palestinian BDS National Committee, the plan “inherently entrenches Israel’s illegal occupation and the denial of Palestinian rights, particularly the right to self determination, the right of return and reparation for refugees, and the right of the entire Indigenous people of Palestine to live in freedom, justice and equality, without occupation or apartheid.” It also is in violation of other international obligations under the January 2024 International Court of Justice Provisional Measures and July 2024 Advisory Opinion, including the Genocide Convention, Apartheid Convention, and Geneva Conventions.
Law for Palestine makes it clear that the resolution, “like the plan it endorses, is not anchored in an international legal framework but rather creates a parallel rules-based order based on security and foreign control.” The organisation notes that the provisions of this resolution are “effectively substituting Palestinian self-determination and sovereignty with an indefinite system of continued aggression, unlawful colonial occupation, and apartheid – with no prospect of cessation, accountability or reparations.”
UNSCR 2803 provides yet another clear demonstration of how the UN Security Council is failing to fulfill its mandate to uphold international law and maintain international peace and security, which is why WILPF has long called for its fundamental reform or abolishment. Instead of pursuing justice and accountability for the Palestinian people, the UNSC has used this moment to cave to US pressure and enshrine impunity and impose different methods of US and Israeli colonial control, while sidelining most Palestinian actors from decision-making.
This transactional, exclusionary dealmaking model is also being replicated around the world, with reporting of a negotiated US-Russian “peace deal” for Ukraine. As feminists who consistently advocate for a transformation of peace and security, including through instruments such as the Women, Peace and Security Agenda, we must challenge this brazen manipulation of the word “peace” to legitimise aggression, colonialism, and imperialism. Aggressors and their allies cannot be provided with the backing to evade accountability for their crimes and reward themselves for violence. At a moment where international law is being deliberately eroded, and the concept of “peace” is being warped to legitimise colonial power grabs and patriarchal, militarised power, people around the world must continue to rise up in solidarity with Palestinians towards their liberation.
WILPF continues to demand urgent actions including:
- An immediate end to the siege and the illegal blockade of Gaza;
- An immediate and comprehensive two-way arms embargo and an end to all arms transfers and military support to Israel, as well as targeted sanctions in line with those proposed by the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement;
- All states and corporations must act, both unilaterally and collectively, to end their complicity in human rights violations and international crimes and to immediately implement all recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967; and
- All efforts towards accountability and an end to Israel’s illegal occupation, apartheid regime, and genocide.
Further Reaching Critical Will and WILPF reading
WILPF Statement: Ceasefire today but justice and liberation tomorrow! 9 October 2025
Turning the Tide from Genocide at UNGA80, 3 October 2025
As UN Confirms Genocide, War Profiteers Sanction Palestinian Activists, 18 September 2025
WILPF Welcomes the Commitments to Halt Genocide Made at the Emergency Conference on Palestine in Bogotá, 18 July 2025
WILPF Welcomes New Report on the Economy of Genocide, 11 July 2025
Further external reading
Security Council Authorizes International Stabilization Force in Gaza, Adopting Resolution 2803 (2025), UN Press Release, 17 November 2025
UN Security Council Shamefully Votes to Endorse Illegal and Colonial Trump-Netanyahu Plan for Gaza, 18 November 2025
Trump’s UNSC Resolution 2803: Repackaged Colonial Rule, Al-Shabaka, 20 November 2025
The Gaza Peace Plan: The UNSC Draft Resolution as a New Form of Occupation Contravening International Law, Law for Palestine, 13 November 2025