🔗 Share this article

Plans for an multinational security mission mandated by the United Nations to demilitarize the militant group in the Gaza Strip are facing increasing opposition after the United Arab Emirates announced it would not take part due to the lack of a clear legal structure.

Growing Global Reservations

Israeli authorities have already excluded Turkish participation, and Jordan's King Abdullah has stated that Jordanian troops will not participate. Azerbaijan, previously mooted as a possible participant, was absent from a planning meeting in Istanbul and indicated it would not contribute unless a full ceasefire was established.

Emirati officials lacks clarity on a defined framework for the stabilisation mission and under such circumstances declines involvement, but backs all diplomatic initiatives towards resolution – and remain at the vanguard of humanitarian aid.

Regional Skepticism and Juridical Issues

The Emirati decision, made by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in the UAE capital, reflects regional doubts about the provisions of a US-drafted document already distributed to diplomats at the UN in NYC. The proposal places an onus on a American-led stabilisation force to be the principal means of imposing security in the territory after Israel have withdrawn from the region.

Arab states would prefer expanded duties to be given to a separate local law enforcement agency. International law would also prohibit external forces from entering occupied Palestine unless there was clear local approval; without it, the mission could be seen as coercive under UN law, and potentially stabilising an illegal Israeli occupation.

Local Viewpoints and Calls for Definition

A Palestinian American co-author of the ceasefire proposal commented: “It is critical that the mission be deployed not to stabilise the illegal presence, but to uphold international law and end it. The force will succeed as long as it operates in the whole occupied territory, including the occupied territories, at the invitation of Palestine, and has a defined goal to conclude the occupation within the context of a independent state of Palestine.”

There is no mention to the occupied territories in the American proposal, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a peaceful resolution, a outcome that Israeli leadership rejects.

Ongoing Discussions and Potential Risks

In-depth negotiations on the stabilisation force authority, including its leadership structure, started officially on last week in New York, and look likely to be lengthy – risking the development of a power gap in the strip that may strengthen Hamas.

The United States is proposing that it lead the force although it will not have many troops involved on the terrain. It has previously in effect assumed command of the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza from a recently established civil military coordination centre based in Israel.

Mission Mandate and Governance Role

The proposed American document outlines the purpose of the stabilisation force as “together with the newly trained and vetted law enforcement to assist in protecting frontier zones, stabilise the security environment in Gaza by guaranteeing the procedure of demilitarising the territory including the destruction and blocking of rebuilding the military terror and hostile facilities as well as the lasting removal of arms from non-state armed groups”.

The force, answerable to a “board of peace” led by Donald Trump, and not to the United Nations, would be mandated to use “any required actions” to achieve its goals.

Regional powers including Qatari officials are also worried that this mandate is too expansive, and if Hamas is to disarm, the group will solely do so to local counterparts, probably in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the Hamas viewpoint, signifies the end of occupation.

They also worry the draft mandate spills into giving the stabilisation force a governance function in the territory, a task that was to be set aside for a Palestinian expert panel working in conjunction with a restructured Palestinian Authority.

Aid Aspects and Financial Questions

This “interim authority” in the strip would remain until “the local government has adequately finished its reform program, the satisfaction of which shall be approved to the BoP”, the draft says. It also “emphasizes the importance” of full relief in Gaza, including through the United Nations, the ICRC, and the Red Crescent.

Nonetheless, it allows for the removal of “any organisation determined to have improperly used such assistance”. The wording leaves open the council excluding Unrwa, the body that the international court of justice has said is the lawful provider of assistance.

International Political Initiatives

French officials and Saudi Arabia are already pressing for a reference to a Palestinian state to be included in the document. The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the US presidential residence on 18 November, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has stated that a mention to a independent Palestine is a prerequisite.

The PA chair, Mahmoud Abbas, held talks with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on this week to discuss the PA role.

Neither the UN nor the 15 strong security council are given a oversight function over the mission, supervising the implementation of the proposal, a point mostly ignored by the draft text. Nothing is outlined about the financing of this security operation, which, as per the Americans, should be mostly borne by regional nations, with Saudi Arabia taking the lead.

Israeli Demands and Regional Developments

Israel is seeking written guarantees from the United States that it be permitted to follow the pattern of the Lebanese situation and reserve the right to return to the territory if it considers disarmament is not taking place at a scale or pace it requires.

The request was presented to the former US advisor, the ex-president's son-in-law, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in Jerusalem on this week to review progress on the ceasefire and the envoy was scheduled to arrive subsequently the same day.

Only the remains of a small number of the original hundreds of Israeli hostages are still not recovered.

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