ISTANBUL

The UN provides “genuinely legitimate international oversight of a future plan” for Gaza, the besieged Palestinian enclave, said a UN rapporteur.

Professor Ben Saul, UN special rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism, was responding to questions at the National Press Club of Australia about Palestinian statehood and US President Donald Trump's cease-fire plan for Gaza, which was released earlier this week and in which former British Prime Minister Tony Blair plays a key role.

"Tony Blair was involved in the Quartet process, which went nowhere. So, there isn't a positive track record there," Saul said on Wednesday, according to video footage of the event.

The Quartet, which included the European Union, Russia, the UN, and the US, was formed in 2002 to facilitate negotiations for the Middle East Peace Process.

“If you want a genuinely legitimate international oversight of a future plan in Gaza, use the United Nations,” said Saul, who is Challis Chair of International Law at the University of Sydney.

“I mean, that's what it is for. It's what it's always been there for,” said Saul, who expressed “bitter” disappointment over Australia’s response to Israel's war in Gaza. “And we only recognize Palestine after… 100,000 Australians marched across the Sydney Harbour Bridge and finally gave a shove to the politicians to have some spine.”

Last month, at the 80th session of the UN General Assembly, Australia recognized Palestine as an independent state.

The UN has the "legitimacy of everybody being involved in it, and it's not at the whim of Donald Trump, which is what this board would be," he said.

Trump's 20-point plan, unveiled at the White House alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calls for an end to hostilities, the release of hostages, and the establishment of a transitional authority to govern Gaza.

His plan centers on a “technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee” overseen by a new body called the Board of Peace, chaired by Trump himself and featuring high-profile international figures, including Blair.  

Israeli war on Gaza 'most unique'

Australian expert on international human rights law Chris Sidoti described the Israeli war on Gaza as “most unique,” as the Palestinians in the besieged enclave “have no means of escape.”

Since October 7, 2023, Israel's bombardment has killed over 66,000 Palestinians in Gaza, the majority of whom are women and children.

“In every other conflict in decades and probably in my lifetime, so that's almost 75 years, there has been the capacity for people to get away,” said Sidoti, who earlier served as commissioner of the Australian Law Reform Commission.

“We saw in the first months of the Ukraine war… it was six or seven million Ukrainians who left Ukraine (and) went to Poland and Germany and Western Europe… Today, the situation in Sudan is the only situation that can come even close to the horror of Gaza. And the people in Sudan, though, have got borders that they can cross to escape from the killing and the starvation. The people in Gaza are captured. They can't go anywhere,” he explained.

“The Israeli authorities, since the first day, have been pursuing an operation of total destruction.

“And the fact that you've got two million people squeezed into an area half the size of Canberra who cannot get away from saturation bombing, starvation, denial of medicines and medical equipment, access to hospitals, access to schools for their kids makes this unique,” said Sidoti.