Plans for an multinational stabilisation force authorized by the UN to demilitarize Hamas in the Gaza Strip are facing growing resistance after the UAE announced it would not take part due to the absence of a well-defined legal framework.
Growing International Reservations
Israel have already ruled out Turkey participation, and Jordan's King Abdullah has declared that Jordanian troops will not participate. The Azerbaijani government, previously considered as a potential contributor, did not attend a planning 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 stability force and under such circumstances will not participate, but will support all diplomatic efforts towards peace – and remain at the forefront of relief efforts.
Regional Skepticism and Juridical Issues
The UAE's decision, delivered by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in the UAE capital, highlights Arab reservations about the terms of a American-proposed resolution previously distributed to delegates at the UN in New York. The proposal places an onus on a US-directed security mission to be the principal means of ensuring security in Gaza after Israel have withdrawn from the territory.
Arab states would prefer expanded duties to be given to a separate local law enforcement agency. International law would also forbid foreign troops from entering contested Palestine unless there was clear Palestinian consent; otherwise, the mission could be viewed as imposed under UN law, and potentially reinforcing an illegal presence.
Local Viewpoints and Appeals for Clarity
A Palestinian American co-author of the Palestinian armistice plan said: “It is critical that the mission be deployed not to stabilise the unlawful presence, but to uphold global standards and terminate it. The force will succeed as long as it operates in the entire occupied territory, including the West Bank, at the request of the Palestinian authorities, and has a defined objective to end the presence within the framework of a sovereign state of Palestine.”
The draft contains no reference to the occupied territories in the American proposal, or to a Palestinian state, or a peaceful resolution, a outcome that Israeli leadership opposes.
Ongoing Negotiations and Potential Risks
Detailed talks on the mission authority, including its leadership structure, started officially on last week in the UN headquarters, and appear to be protracted – potentially creating the development of a power gap in Gaza that may empower militant factions.
The United States is proposing that it lead the mission although it will not have a large number of troops involved on the ground. It has previously effectively assumed command of the distribution of relief supplies into Gaza from a new logistical hub based in Israel.
Force Objectives and Administrative Function
The draft American document defines the purpose of the security mission as “together with the recently prepared and vetted police force to help secure frontier zones, stabilise the security environment in Gaza by guaranteeing the procedure of demilitarising the territory including the destruction and prevention of reconstructing the military terror and hostile facilities as well as the permanent decommissioning of arms from non-state armed groups”.
The force, answerable to a “board of peace” led by the former US president, and not to the UN, would be mandated to use “any required actions” to achieve its objectives.
Arab states including Qatar are also concerned that this mandate is too expansive, and if the group is to disarm, the faction will only do so to local counterparts, probably in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the Hamas perspective, marks the end of occupation.
They also fear the draft mandate extends to giving the mission a governance role in Gaza, a task that was to be reserved for a local technocratic committee working in cooperation with a reformed local government.
Aid Considerations and Funding Issues
This “interim authority” in Gaza would stay until “the Palestinian Authority has adequately finished its restructuring plan, the approval of which shall be acceptable to the board of peace”, the draft says. It also “underscores the importance” of unhindered humanitarian aid in Gaza, including through the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Red Crescent.
Nonetheless, it allows for the exclusion of “any organisation found to have improperly used such aid”. The wording leaves open the board of peace barring the UN relief agency, the organization that the global judicial body has ruled is the legal distributor of aid.
International Diplomatic Efforts
French officials and Saudi Arabia are already pressing for a mention to a sovereign Palestine to be included 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 stated that a mention 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 Monday to review the PA role.
Not the UN nor the 15-member security council are given a oversight function over the stabilisation force, monitoring the execution of the proposal, a point mostly overlooked by the draft text. No details is outlined about the financing of this security operation, which, as per the Americans, should be largely borne by regional nations, with the Kingdom taking the lead.
Israeli Requests and Local Developments
Israeli authorities is seeking written guarantees from the United States that it be allowed to emulate the model of the Lebanese situation and reserve the right to return to Gaza if it considers demilitarization is not taking place at a level or pace it requires.
The Israeli proposal was put to Jared Kushner, the ex-president's son-in-law, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in the Israeli capital on this week to discuss developments on the truce and Witkoff was scheduled to arrive subsequently the that day.
Only the remains of a small number of the original hundreds of Israeli hostages remain unreturned.
Independently, Israel has been suggesting that the territory could still be split in two parts with reconstruction work beginning in the Israel occupied parts of the strip. International officials insist that this is no part of the Trump plan.
