5 November 2025
Background
World attention is currently focused on Gaza as the early stages of a peace agreement start to take form. Regardless of progress on the present agreement, an effective, multi-dimensional peacekeeping and protection force needs to be formed and ready for deployment when opportunities are created. The UN and other major players are negotiating phases to de-escalate and then to hopefully rebuild the multitude of systems and structures that have been destroyed during the two-year war. A multinational force has been proposed, the dimensions of which are not defined or decided (i.e. UN-mandated, all Arab States force, hybrid, etc.)
Despite the strong recommendations of the high-level independent panel on peace operations (HIPPO) report that unarmed approaches must be at the forefront or UN protection operations and the growing record of success of these operations in various conflict zones through the world, little attention, and little more than lip service, has been paid to the role of civil society in consolidating and protecting communities and how the international community can support this. Further, little is known about the civil society-led protection work currently being done in the West Bank, what can be learned from this locally-led protection work, and how it can be relevant and applicable to the future of peace operations in Gaza, as well as more supported in the West Bank.
The session has four aims:
● Examine unarmed civilian protection (UCP) work as it has been done by 20+ civil society organizations in the West Bank for years;
● Explore how UCP has been successfully scaled up in other settings (e.g. UN mission-adjacent in South Sudan and non-UN mission settings in Mindanao, Philippines) to extract lessons that could pertain to non-traditional operational settings like Gaza and the West Bank;
● Interrogate what can be learned from this work vis-à-vis Gaza, what the obstacles will be, and how to scale up in support of a stabilization force to meet the immense protection needs in both the West Bank and Gaza; and
● Discuss the role that UCP-like measures can play as future UN and other peace operations evolve toward smaller peacekeeping models amid global financial constraints.
The session seeks to contribute to the Review on the Future of All Forms of Peace Operations by reflecting on the history of UN peace operations in mission and non-mission settings in order to identify lessons relevant to the future of Palestine, as well as to the future of non-traditional UN and non-UN peace operations.
The event
This event had a twofold aim: to shed light on the relevance of UCP in current and future peace operations and to connect that with and amplify its importance at this seminal moment to meet the overwhelming civilian protection needs in Palestine (both Gaza and the West Bank). Civil society involvement in their own protection and the recognition of the knowledge, agency, and power of civil society in protection needs to be elevated in principle and practice with concrete, actionable measures in terms of timelines, commitments, and consequences for non-compliance, as described in the discussion. We were very glad to see more openness to this during the week.
Key issues discussed
Unarmed civilian protection is a long-known and tested methodology of civilian-led protection methods that has a successful track record working around the world in cooperation with traditional peace operations, Special Political Missions (SPM), and non-mission settings. UCP should become a more accepted and regular part of the UN and other regional and multilateral actors in the planning and deployment of protection of civilians and peace operations. It is especially critical to include civil society in the conception and implementation of protection and governance measures, as it is cost-effective, responsive, grounded in communities' needs, flexible to work with other authorities, and sustainable over time.
Protection of civilians is an utmost need in all of Palestine. UCP is currently being applied in the West Bank by 20+ small NGOs and doing significant protection of Palestinians there, but it needs: (1) to be scaled up massively to be able to meet the immense and increasing protection needs and (2) to be given more structured international recognition to stop attacks on protectors and ensure compliance with the ceasefire and International Humanitarian Law (IHL). Additionally, and most relevant at this moment of attention on Palestine, it needs to be built into the planning of the proposed International Stabilization Force (ISF). Many ideas on how to do this were shared with the key caveat that, without civilian involvement, the ISF will not be stable or succeed because it will be seen by local society as nothing more than exchanging one occupation for another. Palestinians must indeed play an essential role in planning their own future, including major roles on the Board of Peace and the ISF as required in UN Security Council Resolution 2803.
What is being done/can be done
UCP is going on in the West Bank right now by many small INGOs—faith-based, Israeli, joint Israeli/ Palestinians, human rights groups, etc., for more than 20 years. It is not waiting for the ISF. The ISF can benefit from these organizations and their experience. We hope that Member States will pick up these essential elements, both policy and practice, and incorporate in the negotiations of the ISF and its eventual deployment.
What implications emerged for the UNSC and UN HQ
UCP could and should become a more accepted and regular part of the toolbox of the UN and other regional and multilateral actors in the planning and deployment of peace operations. UCP is especially relevant at this time because it is cost-effective, flexible, and easier to scale up.
This is relevant and applicable for what is being considered with regard to protection in all of Palestine and it is especially timely as the negotiations are underway in the International Stabilization Force. Such planning MUST include civil society in conception and for both the West Bank and Gaza. The discussion at our event made clear that there are concrete, actionable suggestions laid out in terms of timelines, commitments, checks and balances, consequences for non-compliance, etc. that should be taken forward.