Territorial Administration by the United Nations in Palestine

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The conflict between Israel and Palestine has led to the international community questioning 'what happens the day after'? The call for a humanitarian ceasefire has been rejected by Israel on the basis that Hamas, an Islamist militant movement and one of the Palestinian territories' two major political parties which it labels a terrorist organisation, will be afforded an opportunity to regroup and rearm. 

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There is therefore one single issue that arises from the current state of affairs: How can a permanent cessation of hostilities be achieved and dialogue commence with a view to reconstruction in a way which allows Israel to be assured of its security and which also preserves the Palestinian territories for the Palestinian people given that Hamas is the de facto governing authority in Gaza? It is possible to draw upon the experience and expertise of the United Nations in the area of International Territorial Administration (“ITA”) as well as Trusteeship.

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In simple terms ITA enables the UN to take control of and to administer a territory by providing for the administration of hospitals, civil and social services, schools, law and order and even garbage collection.  The UN performed these tasks under the enterprise of ITA in East Timor, in Cambodia, and in Kosovo. In East Timor, for example, the territory had sought independence from its status as an Indonesian occupied Portuguese colony and the UN's presence enabled the process of a plebiscite, formal UN administration, and the transition to statehood.  The gradual handover of power to a new government was achieved through several stages. The ballot questioning independence was held under the supervision of the United Nations Assistance Mission in East Timor (“UNAMET”), the violent aftermath was dealt with by the International Force in East Timor to restore order and the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (“UNTAET”) was charged with the transitional authority to administer the former colony of East Timor into a new state with a functional system of government. 

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UNTAET’s mandate was to: provide security and maintain law and order; establish an administration; develop civil and social services; co-ordinate humanitarian assistance; foster rehabilitation and development; establish conditions for sustainable development; support capacity building for self-government; build local capacity for public works; draft and enforce laws; run schools, banks, and public utilities; provide policing, including border patrol, intelligence, surveillance and special police units; and establish a judicial system, fiscal authority, a tax regime, a civil service and currency. 

 

This then led to the United Nations Mission Support in East Timor (“UNMISET”) which oversaw the provision of security and law enforcement, border control, prison enhancement, public administration and asset handover. The final phase was the United Nations Office in East Timor Leste (“UNOTIL”) which assisted in the development of state institutions and police, the provision of training and observance of democratic governance and Human Rights.

 

​Hamas took control of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority in 2007 after being blocked from exercising power despite winning a parliamentary election. Any suggestion of ITA by the UN in the Palestinian territories will therefore require the co-operation of Hamas as the de facto governing authority in Gaza.  Former Prime Minister of Palestine Mohammed Shtayyeh has intimated the need for expert external administration of government functions which corresponds with the idea of ITA. How can the interests of multiple stakeholders be achieved whilst maintaining sovereignty? The international community can draw upon the expertise of the UN in the area of ITA coupled with a form of trusteeship to allow for relevant stakeholders in the conflict to be represented as co-trustees and as beneficiaries. The UN as co-trustee would be charged with the duty to administer ITA in the best interests of the stakeholder beneficiaries.

 

Relevant stakeholders whose interests can be represented within the trusteeship framework include Hamas, The Palestinian Authority, the State of Israel and the United Nations. The governing authorities following the aftermath of the conflicts in Afghanistan and in Syria prove that non-state armed groups are a force to contend with. Through the concept of a Trust, Hamas can be recognised as a joint co-trustee with the UN (as well as a beneficiary) in the exercise of ITA by the UN in Palestine. This is what has been termed the "Collective Trust" and a diagram of the model can be seen in the PDF excerpt of the book on Trusteeship in the Publications section which is available to download for free.

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Palestine has been recognised as a state by 146 countries of the United Nations and is formally referred to as a state by the UN, thereby recognising its sovereignty, albeit not unanimously. If the UN is formally involved in the ITA of Palestine through a Trust with the co-operation of Hamas the same Trust framework also secures Israel's own interest as a relevant stakeholder by virtue of its occupation. The Trust concurrently maintains the territories of Palestine for the Palestinian people reaffirming their sovereignty. If the underlying concern is whether it is possible to work with a group that has been labelled as a terrorist organisation one need look no further than ITA by the UN in Cambodia which involved working with, amongst others, the Khmer Rouge who were responsible for genocide.  

 

Articles 75-85 of the UN Charter established a system of Trusteeship which effectively allowed for a third country to administer a territory in preparation for its independence from colonial rule. It is a relic of the decolonisation period and has fallen into disuse notwithstanding the fact that a Trusteeship Council still exists and an elected President and Vice President preside over an empty chamber. The United Nations therefore has the institutional framework, capability, capacity and infrastructure to engage in territorial administration as well as to revive but reframe the context in which the idea of trusteeship can apply as this new form of trusteeship, or Collective Trust, can allow for sovereign representation during the exercise of ITA, as outlined above.

 

Moreover, territorial administration of Palestine through this revised form of UN trusteeship could not only have the effect of re-establishing consensus within the Security Council of the United Nations and reinstating the authority and credibility of the UN but can also have the effect of focusing the effort on post-conflict reconstruction and ultimately chartering the course in establishing a new area of Public International Law: the law post-conflict.