When Rumiana Bachvarova was only a brief interval into her new place as Bulgaria’s Ambassador to Israel, she went to see her compatriot Nickolay Mladenov in Jerusalem.
He took her to the Mount of Olives, overlooking Jerusalem’s Old City.
“This small place is the cornerstone of all the conflicts here,” Mladenov informed Bachvarova. “But see how beautiful it is.”
Mladenov was a number of years into his position as the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, a place traditionally seen as symbolic however ineffective. Previous diplomats who held the title issued statements condemning the growth of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and emphasizing the significance of the two-state resolution. But they’d little affect on an intractable battle, largely ignored by the Israelis and unable to advertise change with the Palestinians. They got here and went with out leaving a mark.
But Mladenov entered the position with a special perspective, in a position to construct trusted relationships with each Israeli and Palestinian officers. The Bulgarian politician and diplomat had already been appointed his nation’s protection minister at the age of 37, changing into the minister of overseas affairs a couple of months later, a task he held for 3 years. Before coming to Jerusalem in 2015, he was the UN’s Special Representative for Iraq and had earlier in his profession been a member of the European Parliament.
Now Mladenov, 53, faces maybe his most troublesome job but. As the newly introduced High Representative for Gaza, he’ll act as the key hyperlink between US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” and a technocratic committee made up of Palestinian officers that’s meant to run the shattered enclave. He should flip a US-brokered 20-point-ceasefire plan missing key particulars into a viable program that may rebuild Gaza, disarm Hamas, and govern two million individuals.
And all of it must be acceptable to the Israelis, Palestinians, and Americans for it to work.
Alongside him on the Board of Peace – although with out his direct duties in the direction of the committee – can be US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, amongst others, the White House introduced.
With little fanfare, Mladenov met final week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior Palestinian officers as he ready for the job forward.
Mladenov declined to touch upon his new position. When Witkoff introduced the launch of the second phase of the ceasefire on Wednesday, Mladenov reposted his message however made no assertion of his personal.
But he certainly knew what was coming when he made a New Year’s post on X.
“As we step into 2026, here’s hoping it becomes a year where common sense prevails, where rules are respected, facts carry more weight than slogans, and strength is measured not by reckless escalation, but by thoughtful restraint and wise choices,” he wrote.
When Mladenov arrived in Jerusalem simply over a decade in the past, he was initially struck by how irrelevant the place seemed to be, in line with an interview with the New York Times, given as he was leaving the position in late 2020. But Mladenov shuttled forwards and backwards between the key gamers, assembly the Israelis, the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank, and Hamas in Gaza, and delivering his month-to-month report back to the UN Security Council in New York, as mandated by his place.
He made few headlines throughout his time in Jerusalem, however behind the scenes he was energetic, alongside Egypt particularly, in bringing repeated escalations between Israel and Hamas to a swift finish.
“It worked. Again,” he as soon as wrote in a textual content message after a 24-hour flare-up was quelled.
“Everyone likes Mladenov – not only in Israel but across the Middle East. He’s managed to earn the full trust of all sides, which is extremely rare,” a senior Israeli official informed NCS this week. “He speaks in a positive and constructive manner, avoids getting stuck on the negatives, and works in an orderly and transparent way with everyone and without unnecessary complications. He’s a fair player who understands the sensitivities of all parties.”
Among Palestinians, value determinations are extra nuanced. Xavier Abu Eid, a political analyst who used to work with the PLO’s Negotiations Affairs Department as an adviser, acknowledged Mladenov’s professionalism.
“He was always seen as someone very serious, someone who knew the files very well. He was not the kind of envoy or diplomat that depended too much on advisers or people telling him what to say,” he stated.
But Abu Eid additionally informed NCS he felt Mladenov leaned into the Israeli place an excessive amount of, being extra involved with Israel’s picture than with human rights violations suffered by Palestinians.
“He cared about Palestinians, but he cared more about Israelis,” Abu Eid stated.
Some in the diplomatic group in Jerusalem agreed, believing Mladenov overly uncared for the Palestinian Authority (PA), the entity arrange in the Nineteen Nineties as a part of worldwide efforts to unravel the battle, and which continues to have some administrative management over components of the West Bank.
One diplomat informed NCS they felt he might have spent extra time engaged on the moribund peace course of – which might have meant partaking extra with the PA – than on cultivating what got here to be excellent relations not solely with Israel but in addition with Hamas, the longstanding rival of the PA and a US-designated terror group.
A sympathetic studying of Mladenov’s decisions may conclude that he devoted his energies to the extra dynamic actors inside his remit, however it was additionally the case that it suited Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to have the highest-ranking UN official in the area domesticate ties with Hamas at the expense of the PA. A divided Palestinian management served to weaken the Palestinian trigger on the worldwide stage.
But whereas that under-the-table strategy by Israel in the direction of Hamas got here crashing down with the October 7, 2023 assaults, concern nonetheless lingers in Ramallah, the headquarters of the PA , that the new technocratic committee could possibly be one other technique to divide Palestinians by creating rival facilities of energy.
“The Palestinian Authority as an interim authority has been there for the last 32 years, and now there is the (new) authority in Gaza … which is also an interim arrangement until the 31st of December 2027, so the issue for us, now that we have two interim authorities, is how to really link the two in order for us to achieve a two state solution,” former PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh stated in a voice notice to NCS.
Many Palestinians are additionally skeptical of Mladenov’s ongoing ties to the United Arab Emirates, the place he has been serving as the director-general of the Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy, centered on worldwide relations and diplomacy. During his remaining months in Jerusalem with the UN, Mladenov championed the Abraham Accords, which noticed Israel normalize relations with the UAE, amongst different nations. Palestinians seen the 2020 peace settlement as a betrayal, bypassing their aspirations for statehood, which was purported to be a prerequisite for Israel’s regional integration.
But the Accords’ advocates say they underscore what many see as one among Mladenov’s strengths: a willingness to embrace new approaches.
“I think he’s very practical,” stated former US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro. The two labored collectively in 2015 and 2016, the place Mladenov confirmed his willingness to chop by pink tape with the intention to get the job completed. “He’s much less constrained by, or committed to, bureaucratic processes than he is (to) getting results. He’ll go anywhere and talk to anybody, and he’ll insist that those conversations be results-oriented,” stated Shapiro, now a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council suppose tank.
But nearly everybody with whom NCS spoke issued the identical, stark warning: Mladenov’s previous potential to construct relationships is not any assure of success in his new position. With no established infrastructure round him, he should instantly tackle the most difficult duties underneath the nascent second section of the US-brokered settlement.
Three months after the ceasefire went into impact, Hamas has not made any transfer to disarm, which has helped stop the deployment of a world safety power to Gaza; considerations additionally stay over Israel’s true intentions towards additional navy withdrawal from the Strip. Mladenov should additionally work out find out how to transition Gaza from almost 20 years of Hamas rule to the Palestinian technocratic committee underneath his directorship.
For its half, Hamas has welcomed the committee’s formation and stated in a press release, issued by Basem Naim, a senior official, that it was prepared at hand over administration of Gaza and facilitate the committee’s work.
A former senior Israeli safety official expressed skepticism, nevertheless.
“I don’t expect this effort to succeed,” stated the former official, who labored with Mladenov in his UN position. “He has a strong ability to build rapport. But from Israel’s perspective, it’s clear he also has close ties to Hamas, which will make it difficult for him to impose anything on them and make them give up power.”
Ultimately, it is going to doubtless be political will and key gamers appearing in good religion that may decide Mladenov’s success in his new job, however those that know him consider that if he fails, it is not going to be for lack of making an attempt.
Bachvarova, the fellow Bulgarian to whom he confirmed the Old City of Jerusalem, pays tribute to the emotional connection he has with others, and his agency perception in dialogue and compromise.
“He does not take the easy choices, or the easy political line,” she stated. “He is a brave man.”