International Perspective Demands Action in Israel-Palestine Conflict: Deployment of a Peacekeeping Force in Gaza and West Bank Averts Likely Genocide Scenario, Stresses Global Responsibility

In recent weeks, cries for a protective force in Gaza and the West Bank have resurfaced, echoing from health professionals and medical organizations, Palestinian NGOs, Arab civilians, and even the Arab League. Last year alone, human rights organizations also advocated for this very action.

As the world spectates the global normalization of livestreamed genocide and political apathy towards enforcing international law, this call for action represents a bare minimum measure to safeguard Palestinians from unimaginable horrors.

The justification for a protective force

The situation in Gaza and the West Bank has reached unprecedented urgency and despair. Militaries from Lebanon and Yemen, attempting to protect the Palestinian people, failed to halt atrocities, exacting a heavy toll on the Lebanese and Yemeni people.

That's why an international protective force is urgently needed. Its deployment would fulfill what the Palestinian population is pleading the international community to do: protect them. This force would act as a "human shield" – not in the derogatory sense weaponized by the Israeli military to justify its genocide but in the literal sense of a peaceful barrier between the Palestinians and their annihilation.

Its presence could mean the difference between life and mass death for civilians who have faced a year and a half of bombardment, siege, and starvation.

The challenges of forming a protective force

Deploying protective forces through a mandate of the United Nations requires a UN Security Council resolution. The U.S. will almost certainly veto any attempt to create such a force, as they have in the past, effectively enabling genocide and blocking any effort to uphold even the most basic principles of humanity under the UN Charter.

Given this hurdle, a vote for a protective force by the General Assembly would not be binding and would require Security Council approval. However, it could help create a coalition of countries signaling their willingness to intervene with concrete protection measures in defense of Palestinian life after 19 months of empty words without tangible action.

Another challenge is the long-held suspicion of peacekeeping forces in the Global South, given their often questionable alliances and history of serving as tools of imperial control. This concern must be addressed to provide an international protective force that truly serves the interests of the Palestinian people.

To translate these multiple calls into action, a radical reimagination of what a protective force might look like and how it could work is required.

First, we need states uninvolved in the genocide and civil society groups to push for bypassing the UN Security Council. They must focus all efforts and leverage on the UN General Assembly's Emergency Special Session to stand up to U.S. pressure and push for a vote on a peacekeeping mandate.

Second, we need new South-South alliances, building strategic partnerships among Global South nations uninvolved in the genocide to fund and staff a mission free from imperial influence that can proceed without Security Council permission.

Third, we need an unprecedented mobilization of civil society in a single direction, pressuring governments to endorse and participate in a truly neutral protective force.

The challenges facing this radical reimagination effort are formidable. But the alternative is to continue leaving Palestinian lives unprotected – at the mercy of an intensifying process of settler-colonial extermination. We must act now and push for a protective force for occupied Palestine.

The views expressed in this article are the authors' own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance.

The call for a protective force in Gaza and the West Bank, echoed by various entities, is based on international law and aims to safeguard Palestinians from genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
The proposed international protective force would act as a "human shield" to protect civilians from unimaginable horrors, particularly in Gaza where the situation has reached unprecedented urgency.
Deploying such a force requires a UN Security Council resolution, but the U.S. is likely to veto any attempt, effectively enabling genocide and blocking action.
Despite this hurdle, a vote for a protective force by the General Assembly could help create a coalition of countries signaling their willingness to intervene with concrete protection measures.
To overcome these challenges, new South-South alliances, strategic partnerships among Global South nations, and an unprecedented mobilization of civil society are needed to push for a truly neutral protective force.
In the face of formidable challenges, the alternative is continual inaction, leaving Palestinian lives unprotected and at the mercy of an intensifying process of settler-colonial extermination.
It is crucial for states and civil society groups to reimagine what a protective force could look like and to focus efforts and leverage on the UN General Assembly's Emergency Special Session to push for a vote on a peacekeeping mandate.