The Role of Arab States in the United Nations Security Council: A Comparative Analysis of Gaza Wars (2008, 2014, 2023/4)

Abstract

The catastrophic escalation of violence and aggression by Israel in the Gaza Strip starting in October 2023 has once again positioned the Palestine question on the global agenda, just as it did following Israel’s previous major wars on Gaza in 2009 and 2014, respectively. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC), the main body entrusted to maintain international peace and security, has served as the main site for the construction and legitimization of particular discourses around these Israeli wars on Gaza. In this thesis, I examine how the Arab non-permanent members of the UNSC emerged as critical players in shaping this discourse, articulating Palestinian rights, and influencing outcomes through multilateral diplomacy.

In particular, this thesis explores the diplomatic strategies and discursive interventions employed by the four relevant Arab states that served on the UNSC across the respective Gaza wars: Libya (2008-09), Jordan (2014-15), United Arab Emirates (2022-23), and Algeria (2024-25). In doing so, this thesis shows the consistency of the Arab diplomatic position towards Palestine given the historical and ideational centrality of the Palestinian question in the Arab world and the overwhelming public support for Palestinian rights. The thesis, however, also reveals how geopolitical considerations and regional political realignments have shaped respective Arab states’ engagement in very different ways at the UNSC during the Gaza wars.

It argues that Arab states' UNSC participation was leveraged as a discursive tool to: (1) project solidarity with Palestine while accommodating national interests amid post-Arab Spring fragmentation; (2) navigate competing alliances between U.S.-aligned blocs and resistance-oriented actors; and (3) wage legitimacy wars that expose the crisis of international law enforcement despite Western obstruction. This thesis challenges narratives that portray Arab diplomacy at the UNSC as either unified solidarity or powerless performativity. Employing Falk’s "legitimacy wars" lens, the research exposes how over the successive Gaza wars, pure power politics ultimately surpasses the legitimating power of law. Gaza’s transformation into a "graveyard for international law" underscores the limits of discursive victories without material leverage.