🔗 Share this article

Plans for an multinational security mission mandated by the UN to demilitarize the militant group in Gaza are encountering increasing opposition after the UAE announced it will not join due to the lack of a well-defined legal structure.

Increasing Global Reservations

Israel have previously excluded Turkish involvement, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has declared that his country's troops will not join. The Azerbaijani government, once considered as a possible participant, was absent from a preparatory meeting in Istanbul and said it would not take part unless a complete ceasefire was established.

Emirati officials lacks clarity on a clear structure for the stabilisation force and in this situation declines involvement, but will support all political initiatives towards peace – and stay at the forefront of humanitarian aid.

Regional Doubts and Legal Concerns

The UAE's announcement, made by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in the UAE capital, highlights Arab doubts about the terms of a American-proposed document previously distributed to diplomats at the UN in NYC. The draft assigns responsibility on a American-led stabilisation force to be the principal means of ensuring security in Gaza after Israeli forces have left the region.

Arab states would like greater responsibilities to be given to a distinct Palestinian civilian police force. International law would also prohibit external forces from entering contested Palestine unless there was clear local approval; otherwise, the force could be viewed as imposed under UN law, and arguably stabilising an illegal Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Perspectives and Calls for Definition

Jamal Nusseibeh of the Palestinian armistice plan commented: “It is critical that the force be deployed not to reinforce the unlawful Israeli occupation, but to uphold international law and end it. The mission will succeed as long as it operates in the entire disputed land, including the occupied territories, at the request of Palestine, and has a defined objective to conclude the presence within the context of a independent Palestinian state.”

There is no reference to the occupied territories in the US draft resolution, or to a Palestinian state, or a two-state solution, a outcome that Israeli leadership rejects.

Continuing Discussions and Potential Dangers

In-depth talks on the stabilisation force mandate, including its command and control, began officially on Thursday in New York, and look likely to be lengthy – potentially creating the emergence of a power gap in Gaza that may empower militant factions.

The US is proposing that it lead the mission although it will not have a large number of troops deployed on the terrain. It has previously in effect taken control of the distribution of relief supplies into Gaza from a new logistical hub based in Israel.

Force Objectives and Administrative Role

The draft US resolution outlines the purpose of the stabilisation force as “along with the newly trained and screened law enforcement to assist in protecting border areas, stabilise the security environment in the region by ensuring the process of demilitarising the Gaza Strip including the elimination and blocking of reconstructing the military terror and offensive infrastructure as well as the lasting removal of weapons from militant factions”.

The force, reporting to a “board of peace” chaired by Donald Trump, and not to the United Nations, would be required to use “all necessary measures” to achieve its objectives.

Arab states including Qatari officials are also worried that this mandate is overly broad, and if the group is to lay down arms, the faction will solely do so to fellow Palestinians, likely in the local law enforcement, at a time that, from the Hamas viewpoint, signifies the conclusion of Israeli presence.

They also worry the draft mandate extends to granting the stabilisation force a governance function in Gaza, a responsibility that was to be reserved for a local technocratic committee working in conjunction with a restructured local government.

Humanitarian Aspects and Funding Issues

This “interim authority” in Gaza would remain until “the local government has satisfactorily finished its reform program, the satisfaction of which shall be approved to the board of peace”, the draft says. It also “underscores the importance” of full humanitarian aid in Gaza, including through the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the humanitarian organizations.

However, it opens the door the removal of “any organisation found to have improperly used such aid”. The phrase permits the council barring Unrwa, the organization that the international court of justice has said is the legal distributor of assistance.

International Political Efforts

France and Saudi Arabia are already pressing for a reference to a Palestinian state to be added in the resolution. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the White House on the specified date, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has said that a reference to a independent Palestine is a requirement.

The PA chair, Mahmoud Abbas, held talks with the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on this week to review the authority's function.

Neither the United Nations nor the 15 strong UNSC are assigned a supervisory role over the mission, supervising the implementation of the proposal, a aspect largely ignored by the draft text. Nothing is specified about the financing of this stabilisation mission, which, according to the US officials, should be largely borne by Gulf states, with the Kingdom taking the lead.

Israeli Requests and Regional Situations

Israel is requesting formal assurances from the United States that it be permitted to follow the pattern of the Lebanese situation and retain the right to re-enter the territory if it considers demilitarization is not taking place at a scale or pace it requires.

The request was put to the former US advisor, the ex-president's relative, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in Jerusalem on this week to review developments on the truce and Witkoff was scheduled to arrive later the same day.

Just the remains of four of the initial 251 captives remain not recovered.

Independently, Israeli officials has been suggesting that the territory could still be divided in two with reconstruction work starting in the Israel occupied areas of the region. Western diplomats maintain that this is not part of the former US administration's proposal.