University of Padua: students of the Faculty of Political Science propose a Security Council Resolution aimed at deploying an international human security interposition force in the Gaza Strip.

A group of twelve students of the Master degree course in Institutions and Politics of Human Rights and Peace of the University of Padua, participated – as part of the activities related to the course in International Organization of Human Rights and Peace – to a working group aimed at applying the specific knowledge acquired during the course to the recent and dramatic developments of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Professor Antonio Papisca and Professor Mascia, holders of the course, invited students to draw up a Resolution of the U.N. Security Council to be enforceable in real terms to the present situation and characterized by a strong U.N. stance in order to reach a just and bearable solution to the conflict according to a human security approach.

The students met several times at the Human Rights Centre of the University of Padua and, after long and participating negotiations to discuss the critical points and aspects of the resulting document, presented Resolution 1867, which institutes UNISHF, an international interposition force composed by military, civilian and volunteer personnel to be deployed inside the Gaza Strip.

The main aims of Resolution 1867 are:

• granting a permanent ceasefire;

• loosening Israeli grip on the Gaza Strip by allowing permanent opening of the crossings and preventing further Israeli Air Force (IAF) bombings;

• granting Israel a rigorous control of arms smuggling and other eventual illegal actions inside the Gaza Strip, especially at the border with Egypt, and granting the control of the passage of people and goods;

• laying the conditions for the reconstruction of the infrastructures in Gaza and for a reconciliation between the various factions of the Palestinian people;

• supporting the efforts made by other U.N. Bodies and local and international civil society which have committed themselves in parallel to the situation;

• resuming, in a bearable way, the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians on the common basis of all those initiatives genuinely addressed to a just, permanent and sustainable solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict;

According to the text of the Resolution, these aims must be pursued through the deployment of and international human security interposition force in the Gaza Strip (UNIHSF – United Nation International Human Security Force in Gaza), under the authority of the Security Council, composed by 9000 units, men and women, divided into military, civilian and volunteer personnel. 1

The mandate of UNIHSF will concentrate on several aspects including:

• protecting the mission of independent experts decided previously by U.N. Human Rights Council to assess the effects of Operation Cast Lead on Palestinians' life conditions and enjoyment of fundamental human rights;

• monitoring the cessation of hostilities and patrolling the seaside border of the Gaza's Strip;

• controlling arms smuggling, in particular through the control of underground tunnels;

• granting humanitarian aid access for the Palestinian population;

• supporting Palestinian institutions in order to reaffirm their authority on the region;

• protecting the international personnel in Gaza and ensuring its freedom of movement.

Regarding the question of the crossings, the Resolution invites the European Union to resume the pre-existing monitoring mission denominated EUBAM at the Rafah crossing and to extend it to all the other crossings between the Gaza Strip and Israel. The mandate of EUBAM concentrates above all on monitoring borders and training Palestinian border police.

In order to grant the success of the mission and to avoid mandate overlapping between the police mission of the European Union (EUBAM) and the interposition force of the United Nations (UNIHSF), Resolution 1867 institutes a Liaison Committee where the responsible of the two international mission and the representatives of the Palestinian security forces will coordinate their efforts.

Finally, in order to provide a point of reference for the Palestinian population and a super partes control of the activities carried out by UNIHSF, the mission will be assisted by the institution of a mission ombudsman,