Why Muslim and Arab nations are crucial to ensuring durable peace in Gaza

The recent Egypt Peace Summit has injected fresh momentum into the Gaza ceasefire, with global leaders throwing their weight behind the Trump-backed roadmap to end the protracted Israeli war on the Palestinian enclave.

Under Trump’s 20-point plan, the US will develop a security framework with its Arab, Muslim and other international partners to deploy “a temporary International Stabilisation Force (ISF)” in the war-torn Palestinian territory. 

This international force, described as “the long-term internal security solution”, will not only provide security to Gaza residents but also train a “vetted Palestinian police force”, which will be part of the enclave’s security apparatus in the future. 

While the plan mentions Jordan and Egypt as the US’s consultative partners to form this force due to their “extensive experience in this field”, experts believe that Muslim states like Türkiye and Arab countries like Qatar could play more critical roles for the ISF’s success than others. 

Türkiye, Egypt and Qatar have signed a peace document with Trump, pledging their support to the US president’s 20-point plan to end the conflict, and also standing up as guarantors of the current ceasefire, which has largely held since Hamas released all living Israeli captives this week. 

On Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated his support for the Sharm el-Sheikh declaration and said that it was much more than signing just “a ceasefire”.

Experts believe that the backing of Muslim and Arab countries will be crucial to the success of the plan.

“The presence of countries (like Türkiye and Qatar), which are trusted by all parties involved, will play an important role in ensuring the continuity of the ceasefire and deterrence against any (possible) armed conflict,” says Ozgur Korpe, a retired Turkish colonel and a visiting lecturer at the National Defence University.

Türkiye, Egypt and Qatar have all hosted Hamas leaders and have also mediated between Israel and the Palestinian resistance group for securing a ceasefire to end Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza that killed nearly 70,000 people since October 7, 2023. 

‘Great achievement’

Mahjoob Zweiri, a non-resident senior fellow at the Doha-based Middle East Council on Global Affairs, also feels that having Muslim and Arab countries on board for Trump’s peace plan and their push for an ultimate solution in Gaza is “a great achievement”. 

But he also points to the complexity of the issue and its implications for the future of the international order. 

It’s crucial for both the Trump administration and the proposed international force to secure Gaza’s internationally recognised borders from Israeli forces and allow humanitarian aid to flow to the Palestinian enclave consistently, he tells TRT World. 

International organisations like the UN have insisted that the flow of adequate aid to the devastated enclave was the most pressing need for millions of Palestinians returning to their homes. 

The threat of Tel Aviv resuming its genocidal war also hangs over Gaza, with Israeli defence minister vowing to resume the war under the pretext of Hamas failing to respect the Gaza ceasefire agreement.

In this context, the guarantees by the Muslim and Arab nations become crucial.

Alon Liel, a former director general in the Israeli foreign ministry, says that their participation in the peace plan has massive importance, highlighting the critical role played by the three nations in the prisoner swap between Hamas and Israel. 

Türkiye, Qatar, and Egypt will be “guarding its implementation,” Liel tells TRT World.

Liel also believes that these three countries will play a critical role in ensuring the security of Gaza, which he sees as “part of their responsibilities”. 

There is a general belief that the religious, cultural and historical connections with Palestinians give the Muslim and Arab nations a better understanding of the sensibilities involved and thus put them in a better position than the Western world to secure peace and bring stability in Gaza and possibly other occupied regions like the West Bank. 

Risky, but worth it 

Korpe draws attention to the Middle East’s chaotic political atmosphere, marked by multiple conflicts since the formation of Israel in 1948 – from the Arab-Israel war to the Iran-Israel conflict and the devastating US invasion of Iraq in 2003. 

In 1956, the Middle East saw the deployment of the first UN peacekeeping mission – the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) – which was tasked with securing and supervising the cessation of hostilities between Israel and Egypt. 

Since then, several other international forces have been deployed in the region – from Egypt’s Suez to Lebanon and Syria’s Golan Heights to oversee fragile ceasefires between Israel and other nations. 

Korpe, however, feels that Türkiye is ready for a Gaza mission.

“While this international mission has a risky nature like the previous ones, it does not mean we (Türkiye) should avoid it,” he tells TRT World, adding that the Turkish military, the second biggest in NATO, has valuable experience from international missions in Korea, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Afghanistan. 

“We recently took over the command of the Kosovo peacekeeping force,” which signalled the Turkish military’s trustworthiness and professionalism in the international community, according to Korpe. 

The Turkish defence ministry also made clear that by having served in numerous international missions to maintain international peace and security in different geographies, the country’s army has earned “the appreciation of all parties” with its professionalism and fairness. The Turkish military is “ready for any task assigned to them”, added the ministry, referring to Gaza. 

Ankara has also deployed its armed forces in countries like Libya, Somalia and Qatar through bilateral military cooperation agreements. Beyond these deployments, Türkiye has a military presence in Iraq and Syria for counter-terrorism purposes, dealing with different local groups from Arabs to Kurds, Yezidis and Turkmens. 

Türkiye has “both a state memory and military capability to have dealt” with different ethnic and political groups in such treacherous arenas, according to the former Turkish military officer. “As a result, Türkiye will be a critical actor to play an important role in securing peace in Gaza,” he says. 

While some Arab countries are wary of Hamas’s continued presence in Gaza, Türkiye and Qatar have a different view of the armed organisation’s evolving role in the Palestinian enclave due to their long-standing relations with the resistance group, according to Zweiri, the Gulf-based analyst. 

Experts say that this makes Türkiye better placed to tackle the more contentious issues of the peace plan that calls for disarmament and demobilisation of Hamas, with no role in the future governance of Gaza.

Besides Türkiye and Qatar, which have long championed Palestinian sovereignty, other Muslim and Arab states must put “collective pressure” on the US and Israel to push for a long-term resolution to the Palestinian conflict, says Zweiri. 

“They should urge the US and Western states that securing humanitarian aid and rebuilding Gaza cannot be subjected to any conditions, including the removal of Hamas from the enclave,” he adds.