🔗 Share this article

Plans for an multinational stabilisation force authorized by the UN to disarm Hamas in Gaza are facing increasing resistance after the United Arab Emirates stated it will not join due to the lack of a well-defined legal structure.

Growing International Reservations

Israel have already ruled out Turkey involvement, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has stated that his country's forces will not participate. Azerbaijan, once mooted as a potential contributor, did not attend a planning meeting in Istanbul and said it would not take part unless a full truce was in place.

Emirati officials does not yet see a defined structure for the stability mission and in this situation declines involvement, but will support all diplomatic initiatives towards resolution – and stay at the vanguard of humanitarian aid.

Arab Skepticism and Juridical Concerns

The Emirati announcement, delivered by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in Abu Dhabi, highlights Arab reservations about the terms of a American-proposed resolution already circulated to delegates at the UN in New York. The draft places an onus on a US-directed security mission to be the primary means of imposing security in the territory after Israel have withdrawn from the territory.

Arab states would like greater duties to be given to a distinct local civilian police force. International law would also forbid external forces from entering contested Palestinian territories unless there was explicit Palestinian consent; without it, the mission could be seen as imposed under international statutes, and arguably reinforcing an illegal Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Perspectives and Appeals for Clarity

A Palestinian American co-author of the Palestinian armistice plan commented: “It is essential that the mission be sent not to reinforce the illegal Israeli occupation, but to enforce global standards and end it. The force will succeed as long as it enters the whole occupied territory, including the West Bank, at the invitation of Palestine, and has a clear goal to end the occupation within the context of a independent 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 prospect that Israel rejects.

Ongoing Negotiations and Possible Risks

Detailed negotiations on the mission mandate, including its leadership structure, began officially on Thursday in New York, and appear to be lengthy – potentially creating the emergence of a vacuum in Gaza that may strengthen militant factions.

The US is proposing that it command the force although it will not have many troops involved on the terrain. It has previously effectively assumed command of the delivery of relief supplies into the territory from a recently established civil military coordination centre based in Israel.

Mission Mandate and Governance Role

The draft American document outlines the purpose of the security mission as “along with the newly trained and screened law enforcement to assist in protecting frontier zones, secure the security environment in Gaza by guaranteeing the process of demilitarising the Gaza Strip including the destruction and prevention of reconstructing the militant and offensive infrastructure as well as the permanent decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups”.

The mission, answerable to a “board of peace” chaired by Donald Trump, and not to the United Nations, would be mandated to use “all necessary measures” to fulfill its goals.

Arab states including Qatar are also worried that this mandate is overly broad, and if Hamas is to disarm, the faction will solely do so to local counterparts, likely in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the militant perspective, signifies the end of Israeli presence.

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

Aid Aspects and Financial Questions

This “interim authority” in Gaza would remain until “the local government has adequately completed its restructuring plan, the approval of which shall be acceptable to the board of peace”, the proposal says. It also “underscores the importance” of full 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 removal 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 ruled is the lawful provider of assistance.

International Diplomatic Initiatives

French officials and Saudi representatives are currently pressing for a mention to a Palestinian state to be included in the document. The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the White House on the specified date, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has said that a mention to a Palestinian state is a requirement.

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

Not the UN nor the 15-member security council are given a supervisory function over the mission, supervising the execution of the proposal, a aspect largely ignored by the proposed document. Nothing is specified about the funding of this security operation, which, according to the US officials, should be largely covered by regional nations, with the Kingdom taking the lead.

Israeli Requests and Regional Developments

Israeli authorities is seeking formal assurances from the United States that it be allowed to emulate the model of the Lebanese situation and retain the right to re-enter the territory if it considers demilitarization is not occurring at a scale or pace it demands.

The request was presented to the former US advisor, the ex-president's son-in-law, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in the Israeli capital on this week to review developments on the ceasefire and Witkoff was due to appear later the that day.

Only the bodies of a small number of the original hundreds of Israeli hostages are still unreturned.

Independently, Israeli officials has been proposing that the Gaza Strip could still be divided in two with reconstruction work starting in the Israel occupied areas of the strip. International officials insist that this is no part of the former US administration's proposal.