‘Kosovo’s moves towards Israel are the price of aligning with US policy’
Kosovo's decision to join a US-led Gaza force exposes the pull of its alliance with Washington, according to analysts.
Kosovo, a small majority-Muslim country in the Balkans, has signed up to United States President Donald Trump’s controversial Board of Peace and the planned International Stabilization Force for Gaza, after Israel gave its approval.
The proposed force is, in theory, expected to help maintain security, support demilitarisation and train Palestinian police, though its mandate and composition remain unclear.
Its statehood and security depend on international support and NATO protection, as well as the right of a population under pressure from a stronger neighbour to decide its own future. It is now joining a Gaza framework whose legitimacy is contested by Palestinian actors and legal experts, and in which Israel retains decisive influence.
Israel’s recognition carried strategic value beyond the bilateral relationship. For Pristina, she added, it helped counter the argument used by states with their own territorial disputes that they could not recognise Kosovo, showing that domestic sovereignty concerns need not prevent such a political decision.