The Stimson Center published a piece co-authored by Catholic Law's Professor Marshall Breger on ‘The Day After: A UN Transitional Authority (UNTA) for Gaza.’ The op-ed discusses how Gaza should be administered and reconstructed after Israeli troops conclude their operation there.

The op-ed is drawn from a conference held at Amman, Jordan in March 2024, which Breger helped organize and participated. The conference brought together numerous international law experts and members of Palestinian civil society to discuss ‘The Day After in Gaza.’ The conference was the only think tank effort to ascertain what the Palestinian population thought about the future of Gaza.

Together with Richard Caplan, Professor of International Relations at Oxford University, and Larry Johnson, former UN Assistant Secretary General for Legal Affairs, Breger argues for consideration for a UN Transitional Authority (UNTA) to administrate Gaza ‘The Day After.’ The UNTA model, the three point out, has been used extensively in stabilizing and administering war-torn countries – including East Timor, Kosovo, Cambodia and parts of the former Yugoslavia.

While many fear UN involvement as anti-Israel, an UNTA would be created by the Security Council and subject to an American veto. The alternatives – Israeli military control of Gaza or administration by ‘local’ Palestinians, will likely fail. The US desire to deploy a ‘revitalized’ Palestinian authority has met intense resistance from the Netanyahu government. An UNTA may well be the ‘least bad solution.’

The Stimson Center is a leading post-cold war Washington think tank focusing on cross-program innovative research on cross-disciplinary issues. Click here to view the op-ed.