🔗 Share this article

Plans for an multinational security mission mandated by the United Nations to demilitarize the militant group in Gaza are encountering increasing resistance after the UAE stated it would not join due to the lack of a clear legal framework.

Growing International Concerns

Israeli authorities have previously excluded Turkish involvement, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has declared that Jordanian forces will not participate. The Azerbaijani government, once mooted as a possible contributor, did not attend a planning meeting in Istanbul and said it would not contribute unless a full truce was in place.

The UAE does not yet see a defined framework for the stabilisation mission and under such circumstances will not participate, but will support all diplomatic initiatives towards peace – and stay at the vanguard of humanitarian aid.

Arab Doubts and Legal Issues

The Emirati decision, delivered by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in Abu Dhabi, highlights regional doubts about the terms of a American-proposed document already circulated to delegates at the UN in New York. The draft places an onus on a US-directed stabilisation force to be the principal means of imposing security in the territory after Israeli forces have left the territory.

Regional governments would prefer greater duties to be assigned to a separate Palestinian law enforcement agency. International law would also forbid foreign troops from entering contested Palestine unless there was clear local approval; without it, the force could be viewed as imposed under international statutes, and potentially reinforcing an illegal presence.

Local Perspectives and Appeals for Clarity

A Palestinian American co-author of the ceasefire proposal said: “It is critical that the force be sent not to reinforce the unlawful presence, but to uphold global standards and end it. The force will succeed as long as it enters the whole occupied territory, including the occupied territories, at the invitation of the Palestinian authorities, and has a defined goal to end the occupation within the framework of a independent state of Palestine.”

There is no mention to the West Bank in the US draft resolution, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a two-state solution, a outcome that Israeli leadership rejects.

Ongoing Negotiations and Possible Risks

In-depth talks on the stabilisation force authority, including its command and control, started officially on last week in the UN headquarters, and look likely to be protracted – potentially creating the emergence of a power gap in Gaza that may empower Hamas.

The United States is suggesting that it lead the force although it will not have many troops deployed on the ground. It has previously in effect taken control of the distribution of humanitarian aid into the territory from a recently established civil military coordination centre based in the neighboring country.

Mission Mandate and Administrative Role

The proposed American document defines the purpose of the stabilisation force as “along with the recently prepared and screened police force to assist in protecting frontier zones, secure the safety situation in Gaza by ensuring the process of demilitarising the territory including the destruction and prevention of reconstructing the military terror and hostile facilities as well as the permanent removal of weapons from non-state armed groups”.

The force, answerable to a “board of peace” chaired by the former US president, and not to the UN, would be required to use “any required actions” to fulfill its objectives.

Arab states including Qatar are also concerned that this mandate is too expansive, and if the group is to disarm, the faction will solely do so to fellow Palestinians, probably in the local law enforcement, at a time that, from the militant perspective, marks the conclusion of Israeli presence.

They also fear the draft mandate extends to granting the mission a administrative role in Gaza, a responsibility that was to be reserved for a local expert panel working in cooperation with a restructured local government.

Humanitarian Aspects and Financial Issues

This “transitional governance administration” in the strip would stay until “the Palestinian Authority has adequately completed its reform program, the approval of which shall be acceptable to the BoP”, the proposal says. It also “emphasizes the importance” of full humanitarian aid in the territory, including through the UN, the ICRC, and the Red Crescent.

However, it opens the door the exclusion of “any organisation found to have misused such assistance”. The wording leaves open the council barring the UN relief agency, the body that the global judicial body has ruled is the legal provider of assistance.

International Political Efforts

France and Saudi Arabia are already pressing for a mention to a Palestinian state to be added in the document. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the US presidential residence on the specified date, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has stated that a reference to a Palestinian state is a prerequisite.

The PA chair, Mahmoud Abbas, met the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on this week to discuss the authority's function.

Not the United Nations nor the 15 strong UNSC are assigned a oversight role over the mission, monitoring the implementation of the proposal, a aspect mostly overlooked by the proposed document. No details is specified about the funding of this stabilisation mission, which, as per the Americans, should be mostly borne by regional nations, with Saudi Arabia taking the lead.

Israel's Demands and Local Developments

Israeli authorities is seeking written guarantees from the United States that it be allowed to follow the pattern of Lebanon and retain the right to re-enter the territory if it considers disarmament is not occurring at a level or speed it requires.

The Israeli proposal was presented to Jared Kushner, the ex-president's relative, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in the Israeli capital on this week to discuss progress on the ceasefire and Witkoff was due to appear later the that day.

Only the remains of four of the initial 251 Israeli hostages are still unreturned.

Separately, Israel has been proposing that the Gaza Strip could still be split in two parts with reconstruction work starting in the Israeli-controlled areas of the region. Western diplomats insist that this is not part of the Trump plan.