🔗 Share this article

Proposals for an international security mission mandated by the UN to demilitarize the militant group in the Gaza Strip are encountering growing opposition after the UAE announced it will not join due to the lack of a well-defined legal framework.

Increasing International Concerns

Israel have previously excluded Turkish participation, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has declared that Jordanian forces will not participate. The Azerbaijani government, once mooted as a potential participant, was absent from a planning meeting in Turkey and indicated it would not contribute unless a full truce was established.

The UAE does not yet see a defined structure for the stability force and in this situation will not participate, but backs all political efforts towards peace – and remain at the vanguard of relief efforts.

Regional Skepticism and Juridical Issues

The UAE's announcement, delivered by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in the UAE capital, highlights Arab reservations about the provisions of a US-drafted document previously distributed to delegates at the UN in NYC. The proposal assigns responsibility on a US-directed security mission to be the primary means of ensuring order in the territory after Israeli forces have left the region.

Regional governments would prefer greater responsibilities to be assigned to a separate Palestinian law enforcement agency. International law would also prohibit foreign troops from entering occupied Palestinian territories unless there was explicit Palestinian consent; otherwise, the force could be viewed as imposed under international statutes, and arguably reinforcing an unlawful Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Viewpoints and Appeals for Clarity

A Palestinian American co-author of the Palestinian armistice plan said: “It is critical that the mission be sent not to stabilise the unlawful Israeli occupation, but to uphold global standards and terminate it. The force will succeed as long as it operates in the whole disputed land, including the West Bank, at the invitation of Palestine, and has a defined goal to end the presence within the framework of a independent Palestinian state.”

The draft contains no mention to the occupied territories in the American proposal, or to a Palestinian state, or a peaceful resolution, a prospect that Israel rejects.

Continuing Negotiations and Possible Dangers

In-depth negotiations on the stabilisation force authority, including its leadership structure, started formally on last week in the UN headquarters, and look likely to be protracted – risking the emergence of a power gap in the strip that may empower Hamas.

The United States is suggesting that it lead the mission although it will not have a large number of troops involved on the ground. It has previously effectively taken control of the distribution of relief supplies into Gaza from a new civil military coordination centre based in the neighboring country.

Force Mandate and Administrative Function

The proposed US resolution outlines the purpose of the stabilisation force as “along with the recently prepared and screened police force to assist in protecting border areas, secure the security environment in the region by ensuring the procedure of disarming the Gaza Strip including the destruction and prevention of reconstructing the militant and hostile facilities as well as the lasting removal of arms from non-state armed groups”.

The force, reporting to a “board of peace” chaired by the former US president, and not to the UN, would be required to use “any required actions” to fulfill its objectives.

Arab states including Qatari officials are also worried that this authority is too expansive, and if Hamas is to lay down arms, the faction will solely do so to local counterparts, probably in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the Hamas viewpoint, marks the conclusion of occupation.

They also fear the draft mandate extends to granting the mission a administrative role in the territory, a responsibility that was to be set aside for a Palestinian expert panel working in cooperation with a reformed Palestinian Authority.

Humanitarian Aspects and Financial Issues

This “transitional governance administration” in Gaza would remain until “the Palestinian Authority has satisfactorily completed its reform program, the approval of which shall be approved to the BoP”, the proposal states. It also “underscores the importance” of unhindered humanitarian aid in the territory, including through the UN, the ICRC, and the humanitarian organizations.

However, it allows for the exclusion of “any group determined to have misused such aid”. The wording leaves open the board of peace barring the UN relief agency, the organization that the international court of justice has ruled is the lawful provider of aid.

Global Political Efforts

France and Saudi Arabia are currently advocating for a mention to a Palestinian state to be added in the resolution. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the US presidential residence on the specified date, and Manal Radwan has said that a reference 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 PA role.

Not the UN nor the 15-member UNSC are assigned a oversight function over the stabilisation force, monitoring the implementation of the resolution, a aspect mostly ignored by the proposed document. No details is outlined about the funding of this security operation, which, according to the Americans, should be largely covered by regional nations, with the Kingdom taking the lead.

Israeli Requests and Regional Developments

Israel is seeking written guarantees from the US that it be permitted to emulate the pattern of Lebanon and reserve the right to re-enter the territory if it considers demilitarization is not taking place at a scale or speed it requires.

The Israeli proposal was presented to the former US advisor, the ex-president's son-in-law, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in Jerusalem on Monday to discuss developments on the ceasefire and Witkoff was scheduled to arrive subsequently the that day.

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

Separately, 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 strip. Western diplomats insist that this is not part of the Trump plan.