The Middle East, including the Palestinian Question: Briefing and Consultations
On Monday morning (28 September), the Security Council will hold an open briefing on “The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question” (MEPQ). Briefings are expected from Acting Special Coordinator and Resident Coordinator at the Office of the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO) Ramiz Alakbarov and two civil society representatives. Closed consultations are scheduled to follow the open briefing.
Alakbarov will deliver the quarterly update on the implementation of resolution 2334 of 23 December 2016. (This resolution demanded that Israel cease all settlement activity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory [OPT], including East Jerusalem, and called for immediate steps to prevent violence against civilians, including acts of terror.) He is likely to describe the situation in the occupied West Bank, which has continued to deteriorate as a result of intensifying settler violence and settlement expansion. According to the latest situation report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), dated 18 September, more than 1,600 settler attacks resulting in Palestinian casualties, property damage, or both had been recorded this year as at 14 September—an average of 6.7 per day, compared with five per day in 2025. More than 4,300 Palestinians have been displaced since the beginning of the year, about 60 percent of them owing to settler attacks and related access restrictions and the rest due to building demolitions and evictions.
Settlement development has continued in parallel. On 18 August, Israel’s housing ministry published tenders for 1,234 of the 3,401 housing units approved by the Israeli government for the E1 area between East Jerusalem and the Ma’ale Adumim settlement. At the Security Council’s previous MEPQ meeting, held on 26 August (S/PV.10214), Alakbarov warned that the project would “effectively sever the northern and southern parts of the West Bank and its connection to East Jerusalem, eroding prospects for a viable Palestinian state”. The deadline for bids is 19 October, eight days before Israel’s general elections scheduled for 27 October, and some observers have argued that the government is seeking to sign contracts before the vote to make it more difficult for a future government to cancel construction.
Diplomatic activity has increased in response. On 8 September, Canada, France, and the UK announced a ban on the import of goods from settlements and issued a joint statement criticising the E1 project with nine other countries that either have or will introduce similar measures. At a ministerial meeting of the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, held yesterday (24 September) on the margins of the general debate of the 81st session of the General Assembly, UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband described the measures as “necessary” but “not sufficient” steps, while calling for “political pressure on the government of Israel”. In his statement opening the general debate on Tuesday (22 September), Secretary-General António Guterres warned that violence, displacement, and settlement expansion in the West Bank were “bulldozing the path to peace and raising the spectre of ethnic cleansing”. Several speakers may echo such messages at Monday’s meeting and call for further international action to preserve the viability of a two-state solution.
Alakbarov may also address the acute fiscal and institutional crisis facing the Palestinian Authority (PA), which his office highlighted in a report prepared for yesterday’s ministerial meeting of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC), a 15-member international committee established in 1993 following the Oslo I Accord to coordinate the delivery of international aid to Palestinians. The report calls for the full resumption of the transfer of Palestinian tax revenues—which Israel collects on the PA’s behalf and has withheld—and for a longer-term extension of correspondent banking arrangements between Israeli and Palestinian banks. It also welcomes preparations for Palestinian legislative elections, which PA President Mahmoud Abbas noted yesterday in his address to the General Assembly—delivered virtually since US authorities, for the second year in a row, denied him an entry visa for the general debate—would be held on 28 November. The vote would be the first legislative elections held in 20 years, but doubts persist over whether it will proceed, with some Palestinian officials citing Israel’s refusal to allow ballot boxes and other election materials into Gaza as obstacles. (Abbas indefinitely postponed the previous elections scheduled for May 2021, citing administrative obstacles by Israel, although some analysts have argued that fear of losing the elections to Hamas motivated the decision.)
The situation in Gaza is another expected focus of Monday’s meeting. The session will take place one day before the anniversary of the US-brokered “Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict”, which US President Donald Trump announced on 29 September 2025 and the Security Council subsequently endorsed through resolution 2803 of 17 November 2025. The plan’s first phase committed the parties to a ceasefire and Israel to allow more aid into Gaza, secured the release of remaining hostages, and created the Board of Peace (BoP)—chaired by Trump—as a “transitional governance administration” in the enclave. The second and third phases of the plan—which have not yet been implemented—entail Hamas’ disarmament and the full withdrawal of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) under the oversight of an International Stabilization Force (ISF) deployed by the BoP, enabling Gaza’s reconstruction and ultimately a credible pathway to Palestinian statehood.
Despite the ceasefire, violence and dire humanitarian conditions persist in the enclave. According to a situation report published yesterday by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), citing local health authorities, 1,394 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire was announced in October 2025, bringing the total killed since October 2023 to 73,914. Despite some improvement in food security, funding and fuel shortages continue to disrupt health services, and surveys cited in the UNRWA report found that 94 percent of Gaza’s population require shelter and household assistance, while 90 percent face frequent disruptions in access to safe water. On 16 September, a war-damaged residential building collapsed in Gaza City, killing 21 of approximately 100 residents sheltering there. In a statement issued the same day, Alakbarov called for urgent approvals for the entry of heavy machinery, specialised equipment, and fuel for search and rescue, and for tents and tarpaulins to reach vulnerable communities within four weeks, stressing that “no one should have to risk their life simply to find a safe place to shelter”. On Monday, Alakbarov may provide an update on these developments and share observations from his recent three-day visit to Gaza.
Some speakers are also likely to call for progress in implementing the outstanding provisions of the Comprehensive Plan, including the ISF’s deployment, Hamas’ disarmament, and the IDF’s full withdrawal, enabling full-scale recovery and reconstruction efforts. On 30 July, the BoP announced that Hamas had accepted a 15-point roadmap for implementation, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly said on 9 August that Israel was “ruling out” the document. Briefing the Security Council at its 26 August meeting, BoP High Representative for Gaza Nickolay Mladenov noted that Israel was not a signatory to the roadmap and that the mediators had instead asked the country to reaffirm its commitments under the Comprehensive Plan and the 1999 Sharm El-Sheikh protocol. While Mladenov stated that Israel had done so, he acknowledged that “important questions” remain regarding the roadmap’s implementation. At the 24 September Global Alliance meeting, Mladenov again acknowledged that “the picture on the ground does not yet match the documents that have been drafted”, noting that humanitarian access “remains well short of what is required and what international law demands”, and that Hamas’ disarmament has not yet started. Media reports indicate that the BoP does not expect progress on the roadmap before the Israeli elections next month.
On Monday, most Council members are expected to condemn settler violence and settlement expansion in the West Bank, including the E1 project; reiterate that settlements are illegal under international law; and call for a credible pathway towards a two-state solution, recalling resolution 2334, the July 2024 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and the New York Declaration. Some may also urge further accountability measures against violent settlers and settlement expansion.
Regarding Gaza, members are likely to renew their call for the swift implementation of the Comprehensive Plan in a manner consistent with international law and conducive to achieving unified Palestinian governance across the OPT. Several might stress that implementation cannot rest on Palestinian obligations alone, criticising continued Israeli strikes and restrictions on aid in Gaza, and some may reaffirm that facilitating humanitarian assistance is an unconditional obligation under international law. The US, by contrast, is likely to reiterate its position that Israel’s full withdrawal and the beginning of reconstruction at scale depend on Hamas’ disarmament.