UAE Declines to Join Gazan Stabilisation Mission Without Clear Legal Framework

Plans for an international security mission mandated by the United Nations to demilitarize Hamas in the Gaza Strip are facing increasing opposition after the United Arab Emirates stated it will not join due to the lack of a clear legal structure.

Increasing International Reservations

Israel have previously ruled out Turkey involvement, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has stated that Jordanian forces will not participate. The Azerbaijani government, once considered as a potential participant, did not attend a preparatory session in Turkey and said it would not contribute unless a full truce was in place.

The UAE does not yet see a clear structure for the stabilisation mission and in this situation declines involvement, but backs all political efforts towards resolution – and stay at the vanguard of humanitarian aid.

Arab Skepticism and Juridical Concerns

The Emirati announcement, delivered by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in Abu Dhabi, reflects regional doubts about the provisions of a American-proposed resolution already circulated to diplomats at the UN in New York. The proposal assigns responsibility on a US-directed stabilisation force to be the primary means of ensuring security in the territory after Israel have withdrawn from the region.

Arab states would like expanded responsibilities to be assigned to a distinct local law enforcement agency. Global jurisprudence would also prohibit foreign troops from entering contested Palestine unless there was clear Palestinian consent; without it, the force could be viewed as imposed under UN law, and arguably stabilising an illegal Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Viewpoints and Appeals for Definition

Jamal Nusseibeh of the ceasefire proposal said: “It is essential that the mission be sent not to reinforce the unlawful Israeli occupation, but to uphold international law and terminate 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 clear goal to end the occupation within the framework of a independent state of Palestine.”

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

Ongoing Negotiations and Potential Dangers

In-depth talks on the mission authority, including its leadership structure, started officially on Thursday in New York, and appear to be protracted – risking the development of a power gap in the strip that may strengthen Hamas.

The United States is suggesting that it command the force although it will not have many personnel involved on the ground. It has already in effect taken control of the delivery of relief supplies into the territory from a recently established civil military coordination centre based in the neighboring country.

Force Mandate and Administrative Function

The draft American document outlines the purpose of the security mission as “along with the recently prepared and screened police force to help secure frontier zones, secure the security environment in the region by ensuring the procedure of demilitarising the territory including the elimination and prevention of rebuilding the military terror and hostile facilities as well as the permanent decommissioning of arms from militant factions”.

The force, answerable to a “peace council” chaired by Donald Trump, and not to the United Nations, would be required to use “all necessary measures” to fulfill its objectives.

Arab states including Qatar 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 fellow Palestinians, probably in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the Hamas viewpoint, signifies the end of occupation.

They also fear the draft mandate spills into giving the stabilisation force a governance function in Gaza, a responsibility that was to be set aside for a local expert panel working in conjunction with a restructured local government.

Aid Aspects and Funding Questions

This “transitional governance administration” in the strip would stay until “the Palestinian Authority has satisfactorily completed its restructuring plan, the satisfaction of which shall be acceptable to the BoP”, the proposal says. It also “emphasizes the significance” of full humanitarian aid in the territory, including through the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Red Crescent.

However, it opens the door the exclusion of “any organisation found to have improperly used such assistance”. The wording leaves open the board of peace barring the UN relief agency, the body that the global judicial body has ruled is the lawful provider of aid.

International Political Efforts

French officials and Saudi representatives are currently advocating for a reference to a Palestinian state to be included in the document. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the White House on 18 November, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has stated that a reference to a independent Palestine is a prerequisite.

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

Not the UN nor the 15-member UNSC are given a supervisory function over the stabilisation force, supervising the execution of the resolution, a aspect mostly overlooked by the proposed document. No details is outlined about the financing of this stabilisation mission, which, according to the US officials, should be mostly covered by Gulf states, with Saudi Arabia taking the lead.

Israel's Requests and Local Developments

Israeli authorities is seeking written guarantees from the United States that it be permitted to emulate the model of Lebanon and reserve the authority to return to the territory if it believes disarmament is not occurring at a scale or pace it requires.

The Israeli proposal was presented to Jared Kushner, the ex-president's relative, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in Jerusalem on Monday to review developments on the ceasefire and Witkoff was due to arrive later the that day.

Just the bodies of four of the original hundreds of captives remain not recovered.

Independently, Israeli officials has been proposing that the territory could still be split in two with reconstruction work starting in the Israel occupied parts of the region. International officials maintain that this is not part of the former US administration's proposal.