A Palestinian child raises the flag over the ruins of his home — a reminder that no imposed plan can extinguish the struggle for self-determination.
The so-called 'peace plan' resolution passed by the UN Security Council is nothing more than a newly branded occupation and the Palestinian people are rejecting it.
Originally published in Struggle La Lucha.
A U.S.-drafted U.N. resolution endorsing President Donald Trump’s Gaza “peace plan” passed in the Security Council on Nov. 17.
Palestinians responded: This is not peace — it’s a blueprint for foreign control.
At the center of the plan is a new “Board of Peace” — a U.S.- and British-dominated governing body personally chaired by Trump. It would control Gaza’s borders, security, reconstruction, and political life. It alone would decide when Palestinians are “ready” to govern themselves. In other words: sovereignty by permission slip.
For Palestinians, this is not a transition. It is a takeover.
A return to colonial rule
The resolution’s structure mirrors the old colonial mandates of the 20th century — only now U.S. officials, not British ones, would decide Gaza’s future. By separating Gaza from the rest of Palestine and granting Washington and Israel power over any future “withdrawal,” the plan locks in occupation under a new administrative costume.
Palestinian organizations across the political spectrum immediately rejected the proposal. Their objections were unified and simple: This violates self-determination, transfers sovereign power to foreign hands, and tries to achieve politically what Israel failed to win through military assault.
‘Guardianship’ by another name
Hamas called the plan an “international guardianship mechanism” designed to enforce the outcome Israel could not secure through its war: the dismantling of Palestinian resistance and the political fragmentation of the Palestinian nation.
They warned that the proposed International Stabilization Force — ordered to disarm Palestinian fighters — would not be neutral. It would become an arm of the occupation.
The unified Palestinian Resistance issued a joint statement on Nov. 16, warning that the plan opens the door to “external dominance over the national decision-making.” They also condemned the idea that humanitarian aid could become a tool of pressure or control under foreign administration.
A project to erase sovereignty
Al-Haq, a leading Palestinian human rights organization, framed the resolution clearly: It is an effort to “entrench the denial of self-determination” and isolate Gaza from the rest of Palestine. Behind the language of “peace” and “transition,” Palestinians see an old imperialist strategy at work — a divide-and-conquer operation designed to prevent a unified, sovereign Palestinian state.
An answer rooted in unity
The rejection that followed the resolution’s passage was immediate, broad, and unwavering. Political factions, civil society groups, and youth movements — all answered with one voice.
Gaza does not need foreign trustees. Palestine does not need another mandate. And liberation will not come through a board chaired by Donald Trump.
Palestinians made their message unmistakable: Sovereignty cannot be outsourced, and the occupation cannot be repackaged into legitimacy. The struggle for self-determination continues — and no imperialist resolution can redefine it.
Shannon Jones is a member of the Spirit of Mandela’s Peoples' Senate Coordinating Committee.
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