Upgrading the UN Peacekeepers to UN Peacemakers
by John Lawrence
The problem with both ongoing wars is that there is no referee that can step in and separate the sides. President Biden appeals to Israel and Hamas to come to a cease fire, but neither side is listening to him. He leaves it up to them to come to a cease fire while having no means to actually force them to come to a cease fire. Of course he could stop supplying Israel with money and weapons, but by not doing so he leaves himself open to the accusation of being Netanyahu's patsy. When two children are caught fighting, a teacher steps in and separates the parties. In a prize fight, the referee steps in and separates the fighters when they are in a clinch. Rather than let two belligerents continue fighting until they can come to an agreement among themselves to stop fighting, a stronger power might step in militarily to separate the fighters. This is not something Biden or any other leader is willing to do. It is something that can only be done by a neutral party, not someone who is allied or aligned with one of the belligerents.
It would be best if the power that steps in to separate the belligerents had the sanction of the United Nations. United Nations Peacekeepers have fulfilled something like that role, but without the wherewithal to actually enforce the peace rather than keeping the peace, a somewhat different situation. This is from their website: "UN Peacekeeping helps countries navigate the difficult path from conflict to peace. We have unique strengths, including legitimacy, burden sharing, and an ability to deploy troops and police from around the world, integrating them with civilian peacekeepers to address a range of mandates set by the UN Security Council and General Assembly." One of the principals for engagement of UN Peacekeepers is "consent of the parties." This limits their effectiveness. It is unimaginable that Israel and Hamas would consent to having UN Peacekeepers intervene. There has to be third party intervention that has teeth in it to force the parties to quit hostilities.
The same thing is true in Ukraine. A strong referee needs to step in to stop the fighting and force the parties to the bargaining table. Peace plans abound. A diplomatic settlement or a peace treaty needs to be enforced or at least facilitated. There are many out there. For instance freezing the front line and putting a peace keeping force there to separate the two parties. Then taking into account at the peace talks some compromise between the maximal demands of both parties. However, a third party stepping in to stop the fighting and demanding that the parties proceed to the peace table would be the least that should be accomplished. Continuing the destruction of life and property on both sides is accomplishing nothing except for the fact that Ukraine will never be accepted as a member of NATO as long as a war of attrition is ongoing. Perhaps that should be the starting point: that Ukraine will not become a member of NATO in the foreseeable future. That's better than ongoing war.
In the war in Gaza there is no lack of officials calling for a two state solution. Problem is that neither Israel or Hamas is interested. Therefore, a two state solution must be imposed by a neutral power that has the wherewithal to do so. The UN Peacekeepers need to be upgraded to the UN Peacemakers with the authority and power to enforce a peace between belligerents and bring them to the bargaining table.
