UN vote on Trump's Gaza plan 'sends powerful message' for peace in Holy Land, says Bishop Zaidan

(OSV News) -- The chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on International Justice and Peace told OSV News he was heartened by a United Nations move to approve President Donald Trump's plan to end the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip by installing international transitional governance and military forces there.

"I am encouraged by the U.N. Security Council's approval of the United States' peace plan to end the devastating war in Gaza," said Bishop A. Elias Zaidan of the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles, which is based in St. Louis.

On Nov. 17, the U.N. Security Council voted 13-0 in favor of the U.S.-backed "Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict," with Russia and China abstaining.

Bishop Zaidan, who chairs the USCCB's international justice and peace committee, said the "gesture sends a powerful message that the international community is serious about peace in the Holy Land."

The vote greenlighted a resolution supporting Trump's 20-point plan for Gaza, which calls for establishing a temporary Board of Peace as well as an International Stabilization Force in Gaza under the board's governance.

The resolution text also specifies the gradual withdrawal of Israel's military from Gaza as the stabilization force provides control.

However, "a security perimeter presence ... will remain until Gaza is properly secure from any resurgent terror threat," said the U.N. in a Nov. 17 press release on its website.

The U.N. also said in its release that the board will remain authorized until Dec. 31, 2027, "subject to further Council action."

Additionally, the release said the U.N. Security Council "underscored the importance of the full resumption of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip in cooperation with the Board, in a manner consistent with relevant international legal principles, through cooperating organizations -- including the United Nations -- and ensuring such aid is not diverted by armed groups."

Despite the approval, several nations nonetheless expressed concern the plan was insufficiently explicit and did not sufficiently specify a two-state solution to the conflict.

Still, Denmark's U.N. representative said the plan was "our best opportunity to bring about lasting peace" with an eye to such a solution, while Panama's representative cautioned that "the perfect is the enemy of the good," stressing the plan was a "first necessary step" toward strengthening the ceasefire, ensuring humanitarian aid and reconstructing Gaza.

"I reiterate our call for prayers for peace, as well as for a multilateral effort to provide humanitarian relief to the people of Gaza," said Bishop Zaidan.

The U.N. Security Council resolution comes weeks after the second anniversary of the Israel-Hamas war, which began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas forces invaded Israel, killing some 1,200 Israelis and abducting 251 hostages. To date, more than 69,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.

Under the Trump-brokered ceasefire deal, Hamas has now returned the remaining living hostages to Israel, and all but three of the bodies of 28 deceased hostages. Israel has returned 250 Palestinian prisoners and more than 1,700 Gaza detainees.