The Role of United States, a Mediator or an Interested Party?
United States as the mediator between Israel and Hamas, brings to question what is the role of the mediator, and the basic norms to be adhered to when being the mediator. According to United Nations, International law and US law there are certain common basic elements for being a mediator, it may be useful to briefly address the same. Basic definition is stated to be “Mediation in a voluntary, binding process in which an impartial and neutral mediator facilitates disputing parties in reaching a settlement.” Basic requirements: According to United Nations Guidance for Effective Mediation, Impartiality is the corner stone of mediation, a mediator should be able to run a balanced process that treats all actors fairly and “Should not have a material interest in the outcome”. While UN document does indicate impartiality does not mean neutrality, as a UN mediator he/she is mandated to uphold certain universal principles and values and may need to make them explicitly known to the part