UAE Declines to Join Gaza Stabilisation Mission Lacking Defined Legal Framework

Plans for an international security mission mandated by the UN to demilitarize Hamas in the Gaza Strip are facing increasing opposition after the UAE stated it will not take part due to the lack of a clear legal structure.

Increasing Global Reservations

Israeli authorities have previously ruled out Turkey involvement, and Jordan's King Abdullah has declared that Jordanian troops will not participate. Azerbaijan, previously mooted as a possible participant, did not attend a preparatory meeting in Istanbul and indicated it would not take part unless a complete truce was established.

Emirati officials does not yet see a clear structure for the stability force and in this situation will not participate, but will support all diplomatic efforts towards resolution – and stay at the forefront of relief efforts.

Regional Skepticism and Juridical Issues

The Emirati decision, made by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in the UAE capital, reflects Arab doubts about the provisions of a American-proposed resolution already circulated to delegates at the UN in New York. The proposal assigns responsibility on a American-led stabilisation force to be the principal means of imposing security in Gaza after Israel have left the region.

Regional governments would prefer expanded responsibilities to be assigned to a separate Palestinian civilian police force. International law would also forbid foreign troops from deploying into occupied Palestine unless there was clear local approval; without it, the force could be seen as imposed under international statutes, and potentially reinforcing an illegal presence.

Palestinian Perspectives and Appeals for Definition

A Palestinian American co-author of the ceasefire proposal said: “It is critical that the force be sent not to stabilise the unlawful presence, but to uphold international law and terminate it. The mission will succeed as long as it operates in the entire disputed land, including the occupied territories, at the invitation of the Palestinian authorities, and has a defined objective to end the occupation within the context of a sovereign state of Palestine.”

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

Continuing Negotiations and Potential Risks

Detailed talks on the stabilisation force mandate, including its leadership structure, began officially on Thursday in New York, and appear to be protracted – potentially creating the development of a vacuum in the strip that may strengthen Hamas.

The US is suggesting that it lead the force although it will not have many troops deployed on the terrain. It has already in effect taken control of the distribution of humanitarian aid into the territory from a new logistical hub based in the neighboring country.

Mission Mandate and Governance Role

The draft US resolution defines the aim of the stabilisation force as “along with the newly trained and screened police force to assist in protecting border areas, secure the safety situation in the region by guaranteeing the process of disarming the Gaza Strip including the elimination and blocking of rebuilding the military terror and hostile facilities as well as the lasting decommissioning of arms from non-state armed groups”.

The force, reporting 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 goals.

Regional powers including Qatari officials are also concerned that this mandate is overly broad, and if the group is to disarm, the faction will solely do so to fellow Palestinians, likely in the local law enforcement, at a time that, from the militant perspective, marks the end of occupation.

They also fear the draft mandate spills into granting the stabilisation force a administrative function in the territory, a task that was to be reserved for a Palestinian technocratic committee working in conjunction with a restructured Palestinian Authority.

Aid Considerations and Funding Questions

This “transitional governance administration” in the strip would stay until “the local government has satisfactorily completed its restructuring plan, the approval of which shall be approved to the board of peace”, the proposal says. It also “emphasizes the significance” of full humanitarian aid in Gaza, including through the United Nations, the ICRC, and the Red Crescent.

However, it allows for the exclusion of “any organisation determined to have improperly used such assistance”. The wording permits the board of peace barring the UN relief agency, the organization that the global judicial body has said is the lawful provider of assistance.

International Political Efforts

France and Saudi Arabia are already pressing for a reference to a sovereign Palestine to be added in the document. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the White House on 18 November, and Manal Radwan has said that a reference to a independent Palestine is a prerequisite.

The Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, met the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on Monday to discuss the authority's function.

Neither the United Nations nor the 15-member UNSC are assigned a supervisory function over the mission, supervising the implementation of the proposal, a aspect largely overlooked by the draft text. No details is outlined about the financing of this stabilisation mission, which, according to the Americans, should be mostly covered by regional nations, with the Kingdom taking the lead.

Israel's Requests and Local Situations

Israeli authorities is requesting written guarantees from the United States that it be permitted to follow the pattern of Lebanon and reserve the right to re-enter Gaza if it believes demilitarization 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. Kushner was in the Israeli capital on this week to discuss progress on the truce and Witkoff was scheduled to arrive later the that day.

Only the remains of a small number of the initial 251 Israeli hostages remain not recovered.

Independently, Israeli officials has been proposing that the Gaza Strip could yet be split in two parts with reconstruction work beginning in the Israel occupied areas of the region. International officials maintain that this is no part of the Trump plan.