UN experts warn Trump's Gaza plan could cause more oppression

GENEVA:

Dozens of UN experts cautioned Friday that key elements of US President Donald Trump's peace plan for Gaza were inconsistent with international law and risked deepening oppression of Palestinians.

"Imposing an immediate peace at any price, regardless of or brazenly against law and justice, is a recipe for further injustice, future violence and instability," 35 United Nations independent experts said in a statement.

They voiced serious concerns about more than a dozen aspects of the 20-point plan unveiled by the US president last week, and backed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The experts, who are mandated by the UN Human Rights Council but who do not speak on behalf of the United Nations, said they "welcome part of the peace plan".

They hailed the demand for a permanent ceasefire, the rapid release of unlawfully detained people, and an influx of aid.

And they celebrated the call for no forced displacement from Gaza, no annexation of the territory and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

However, they warned that other elements of the plan were "deeply inconsistent with fundamental rules of international law".

The experts, including Francesca Albanese, the special rapporteur on rights in the Palestinian territory, insisted that any peace plan needed to ensure self-determination and accountability, and "not create further conditions of oppression".

They slammed the plan's call for a transitional "Board of Peace" in Gaza, which would be chaired by Trump himself, saying it was "regrettably reminiscent of colonial practices and must be rejected".

Similarly, the experts maintained that the proposed "International Stabilisation Force... would replace Israeli occupation with a US-led occupation, contrary to Palestinian self-determination".

The plan would also leave partial Israeli occupation in place "indefinitely" through a security perimeter inside Gaza, which was "absolutely unacceptable", they said.

At the same time, they decried that "de-radicalisation is imposed on Gaza only", despite the fact that "anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab sentiments, radicalisation and public incitement to genocide have been hallmarks of dominant rhetoric in Israel over the past two years".

The experts also warned that "amnesties offered to Hamas seem to be unconditional... denying justice for victims of international crimes", while the plan failed to "address accountability at all for Israeli international crimes and human rights violations".

"The future of Palestine must be in the hands of the Palestinian people," the experts insisted.

"Not imposed by outsiders under extreme conditions of duress in yet another scheme to control their destiny."