🔗 Share this article

Plans for an multinational stabilisation force authorized by the UN to demilitarize the militant group in the Gaza Strip are encountering increasing resistance after the UAE announced it would not join due to the lack of a well-defined legal framework.

Growing International Concerns

Israel have already excluded Turkey participation, and Jordan's King Abdullah has declared that his country's troops will not join. Azerbaijan, previously mooted as a potential contributor, did not attend a preparatory session in Istanbul and said it would not contribute unless a complete truce was established.

The UAE lacks clarity on a defined framework for the stabilisation mission and under such circumstances declines involvement, but will support all political efforts towards peace – and stay at the forefront of relief efforts.

Regional Skepticism and Legal Issues

The Emirati announcement, delivered by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in the UAE capital, highlights Arab reservations about the terms of a US-drafted document already circulated to diplomats at the UN in NYC. The proposal assigns responsibility on a US-directed stabilisation force to be the principal means of ensuring order in the territory after Israeli forces have left the region.

Arab states would like expanded duties to be assigned to a distinct Palestinian civilian police force. International law would also prohibit external forces from entering contested Palestinian territories unless there was explicit Palestinian consent; otherwise, the force could be viewed as coercive under UN law, and potentially stabilising an unlawful Israeli occupation.

Local Perspectives and Appeals for Clarity

Jamal Nusseibeh of the Palestinian armistice plan commented: “It is essential that the force be sent not to reinforce the illegal Israeli occupation, but to enforce international law and end it. The force will succeed as long as it operates in the whole disputed land, including the West Bank, at the request of Palestine, and has a defined goal to end the presence within the context of a independent Palestinian state.”

There is no reference to the West Bank in the US draft resolution, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a peaceful resolution, a outcome that Israeli leadership opposes.

Continuing Negotiations and Potential Dangers

Detailed talks on the mission authority, including its command and control, began formally on Thursday in the UN headquarters, and appear to be lengthy – risking the development of a vacuum in Gaza that may strengthen Hamas.

The United States is proposing that it lead the force although it will not have a large number of personnel deployed on the terrain. It has previously in effect assumed command of the delivery of humanitarian aid into the territory from a new civil military coordination centre based in the neighboring country.

Mission Objectives and Administrative Role

The draft American document defines the aim of the stabilisation force as “along with the newly trained and vetted police force to help secure border areas, stabilise the security environment in Gaza by ensuring the procedure of demilitarising the territory including the destruction and prevention of reconstructing the military terror and offensive infrastructure as well as the permanent removal of arms from militant factions”.

The mission, answerable to a “board of peace” led by Donald Trump, and not to the UN, would be required to use “any required actions” to fulfill its goals.

Arab states including Qatari officials are also concerned that this mandate is overly broad, and if the group is to lay down arms, the faction will solely do so to local counterparts, likely in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the Hamas perspective, signifies the conclusion of occupation.

They also fear the draft mandate extends to giving the mission a governance function in Gaza, a task that was to be reserved for a Palestinian expert panel working in cooperation with a reformed Palestinian Authority.

Humanitarian Aspects and Funding Questions

This “transitional governance administration” in Gaza would remain until “the local government has adequately finished its restructuring plan, the satisfaction of which shall be acceptable to the BoP”, the proposal says. It also “underscores the importance” of full humanitarian aid in the territory, including through the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Red Crescent.

However, it opens the door the removal of “any organisation determined to have improperly used such aid”. The wording leaves open the council barring the UN relief agency, the body that the international court of justice has ruled is the legal distributor of assistance.

Global Diplomatic Efforts

French officials and Saudi Arabia are currently advocating for a reference to a Palestinian state to be included in the resolution. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the US presidential residence 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 Paris on Monday to discuss the PA role.

Neither the UN nor the 15-member security council are given a oversight role over the stabilisation force, monitoring the execution of the proposal, a aspect mostly overlooked by the draft text. No details is specified about the financing of this security operation, which, as per the Americans, should be mostly borne by Gulf states, with the Kingdom taking the lead.

Israeli Requests and Regional Developments

Israeli authorities is requesting written guarantees from the United States that it be permitted to follow the model of the Lebanese situation and retain the right to return to Gaza if it considers disarmament is not occurring at a level or pace it demands.

The Israeli proposal was put to the former US advisor, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in the Israeli capital on Monday to review developments on the ceasefire and Witkoff was due to arrive later the that day.

Only the remains of four of the initial 251 Israeli hostages remain unreturned.

Independently, Israel has been suggesting that the Gaza Strip could yet be split in two parts with rebuilding efforts beginning in the Israel occupied areas of the region. International officials insist that this is not part of the former US administration's proposal.