United Arab Emirates Declines to Participate in Gazan Stabilisation Force Lacking Defined Juridical Structure

Plans for an international security mission authorized by the UN to disarm Hamas in the Gaza Strip are encountering increasing resistance after the UAE announced it will not take part due to the lack of a clear legal structure.

Increasing International Concerns

Israel have previously excluded Turkish involvement, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has stated that his country's forces will not join. The Azerbaijani government, previously mooted as a possible participant, did not attend a planning meeting in Istanbul and indicated it would not contribute unless a complete ceasefire was established.

Emirati officials lacks clarity on a clear structure for the stability mission and under such circumstances will not participate, but backs all political efforts towards resolution – and stay at the forefront of humanitarian aid.

Regional Doubts and Legal Issues

The Emirati announcement, delivered by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in Abu Dhabi, reflects regional doubts about the provisions of a American-proposed document already distributed to diplomats at the UN in New York. The proposal assigns responsibility on a American-led security mission to be the primary means of imposing security in Gaza after Israeli forces have left the region.

Arab states would prefer greater responsibilities to be given to a distinct local law enforcement agency. Global jurisprudence would also forbid external forces from entering occupied Palestine unless there was explicit Palestinian consent; otherwise, the force could be seen as imposed under UN law, and potentially reinforcing an illegal Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Viewpoints and Appeals for Definition

A Palestinian American co-author of the ceasefire proposal commented: “It is critical that the force be deployed not to reinforce the illegal Israeli occupation, but to uphold international law and end it. The force will succeed as long as it enters the whole occupied territory, including the occupied territories, at the invitation of Palestine, and has a defined objective to end the presence within the context of a sovereign state of Palestine.”

The draft contains no mention to the West Bank in the American proposal, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a two-state solution, a prospect that Israeli leadership rejects.

Continuing Discussions and Potential Dangers

In-depth negotiations on the mission mandate, including its leadership structure, began formally on Thursday in the UN headquarters, and look likely to be lengthy – risking the emergence of a power gap in Gaza that may empower militant factions.

The US is proposing that it command the mission although it will not have a large number of personnel deployed on the terrain. It has already effectively assumed command of the distribution of humanitarian aid into Gaza from a recently established logistical hub based in the neighboring country.

Mission Mandate and Administrative Role

The draft American document outlines the purpose of the stabilisation force as “together with the recently prepared and screened police force to help secure frontier zones, stabilise the security environment in Gaza by ensuring the procedure 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 arms from militant factions”.

The mission, answerable to a “peace council” chaired by the former US president, and not to the UN, would be mandated to use “all necessary measures” to achieve its objectives.

Arab states including Qatar are also concerned that this mandate is too expansive, and if the group is to lay down arms, the group will only do so to local counterparts, probably in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the Hamas viewpoint, signifies the conclusion of occupation.

They also fear the proposed authority extends to giving the mission a administrative function in Gaza, a responsibility that was to be set aside for a local expert panel working in cooperation with a reformed Palestinian Authority.

Aid Aspects and Financial Issues

This “transitional governance administration” in Gaza would stay until “the Palestinian Authority has adequately completed its reform program, the satisfaction of which shall be acceptable to the BoP”, the proposal says. It also “emphasizes the significance” of full relief in Gaza, including through the United Nations, the ICRC, and the Red Crescent.

However, it opens the door the removal of “any organisation determined to have misused such aid”. The wording leaves open the board of peace barring the UN relief agency, the organization that the global judicial body has said is the lawful distributor of aid.

Global Political Initiatives

French officials and Saudi representatives are already pressing for a reference to a Palestinian state to be added in the document. The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the US presidential residence on the specified date, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has stated that a mention to a Palestinian state is a requirement.

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

Neither the United Nations nor the 15-member UNSC are given a supervisory function over the stabilisation force, monitoring the execution of the proposal, a aspect largely ignored by the draft text. No details is specified about the financing of this stabilisation mission, which, as per the US officials, should be mostly borne by regional nations, with Saudi Arabia assuming primary responsibility.

Israeli Requests and Local Developments

Israeli authorities is seeking formal assurances from the US that it be allowed to follow the model of Lebanon and reserve the right to return to Gaza if it believes disarmament is not taking place at a level or pace it requires.

The Israeli proposal was presented to the former US advisor, the ex-president's relative, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in Jerusalem on this week to discuss developments on the truce and the envoy was scheduled to arrive subsequently the same day.

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

Independently, Israel has been proposing that the Gaza Strip could yet be split in two with reconstruction work starting in the Israeli-controlled areas of the strip. Western diplomats maintain that this is no part of the Trump plan.