🔗 Share this article

Plans for an multinational stabilisation force authorized by the UN to demilitarize Hamas in Gaza are encountering increasing resistance after the United Arab Emirates stated it would not take part due to the lack of a clear legal framework.

Increasing International Concerns

Israel have already excluded Turkish participation, and Jordan's King Abdullah has declared that his country's forces will not participate. The Azerbaijani government, once mooted as a potential contributor, was absent from a planning meeting in Turkey and indicated it would not contribute unless a complete truce was in place.

The UAE lacks clarity on a defined structure for the stabilisation mission and in this situation will not participate, but backs all political initiatives towards resolution – and stay at the vanguard of relief efforts.

Regional Doubts and Legal Concerns

The Emirati decision, made by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in Abu Dhabi, highlights regional doubts about the terms of a American-proposed resolution already circulated to diplomats at the UN in NYC. The proposal places an onus on a American-led security mission to be the principal means of imposing security in the territory after Israel have left the region.

Arab states would like greater duties to be given to a distinct local civilian police force. Global jurisprudence would also prohibit external forces from entering occupied Palestine unless there was clear local approval; without it, the mission could be viewed as imposed under international statutes, and arguably reinforcing an illegal presence.

Palestinian Perspectives and Calls for Definition

A Palestinian American co-author of the ceasefire proposal said: “It is critical that the force be sent not to stabilise the illegal presence, but to uphold global standards and terminate it. The force will work as long as it operates in the entire disputed land, including the occupied territories, at the request of Palestine, and has a defined goal to conclude the occupation within the context of a sovereign state of Palestine.”

There is no reference to the West Bank in the American proposal, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a peaceful resolution, a prospect that Israeli leadership rejects.

Continuing Negotiations and Potential Dangers

In-depth negotiations on the mission mandate, including its command and control, began formally on Thursday in New York, and look likely to be lengthy – potentially creating the development of a vacuum in Gaza that may empower militant factions.

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 Gaza from a recently established logistical hub based in Israel.

Force Mandate and Administrative Role

The proposed US resolution defines the aim of the stabilisation force as “together with the recently prepared and screened law enforcement to assist in protecting border areas, stabilise the security environment in the region by ensuring the process of demilitarising the territory including the elimination and blocking of reconstructing the militant and hostile facilities as well as the permanent removal 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 required to use “all necessary measures” to achieve its goals.

Regional powers including Qatar are also concerned that this authority is too expansive, and if the group is to lay down arms, the faction will only do so to local counterparts, likely in the civilian police force, at a time that, from the Hamas viewpoint, marks the end of Israeli presence.

They also worry the draft mandate spills into granting the mission a governance role in the territory, a responsibility that was to be set aside for a Palestinian expert panel working in conjunction with a restructured Palestinian Authority.

Aid Considerations and Funding Issues

This “interim authority” in the strip would remain until “the local government has adequately completed its restructuring plan, the approval of which shall be approved to the board of peace”, the draft says. It also “underscores the importance” of unhindered relief in the territory, including through the United Nations, the ICRC, and the humanitarian organizations.

Nonetheless, it opens the door the exclusion of “any group found to have misused such assistance”. The wording leaves open the council excluding Unrwa, the body that the global judicial body has ruled is the lawful distributor of aid.

Global Diplomatic Efforts

French officials and Saudi representatives are currently pressing for a reference to a Palestinian state to be included in the resolution. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the White House on the specified date, and Manal Radwan has stated that a mention to a Palestinian state is a prerequisite.

The PA chair, Mahmoud Abbas, held talks with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on this week to review the authority's function.

Neither the United Nations nor the 15-member UNSC are given a oversight role over the stabilisation force, supervising the implementation of the resolution, a aspect largely ignored by the draft text. No details is outlined about the financing of this stabilisation mission, which, according to the US officials, should be largely covered by Gulf states, with the Kingdom assuming primary responsibility.

Israel's Demands and Local Situations

Israeli authorities is seeking formal assurances from the United States that it be permitted to follow the model of the Lebanese situation and retain the authority to re-enter the territory if it believes disarmament is not occurring at a scale or pace it requires.

The Israeli proposal was put to Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in the Israeli capital on Monday to review progress on the ceasefire and the envoy was due to arrive later the same day.

Just the remains of a small number of the initial hundreds of Israeli hostages remain not recovered.

Independently, Israeli officials has been proposing that the territory could still be split in two parts with reconstruction work beginning in the Israel occupied areas of the region. Western diplomats insist that this is no part of the Trump plan.