Plans for an international security mission mandated by the United Nations to demilitarize Hamas in Gaza are facing increasing opposition after the UAE stated it will not join due to the lack of a well-defined legal framework.
Israeli authorities have previously ruled out Turkey participation, and Jordan's King Abdullah has stated that his country's troops will not join. The Azerbaijani government, once considered as a potential contributor, was absent from a planning meeting in Turkey and indicated it would not take part unless a full ceasefire was established.
Emirati officials does not yet see a defined framework for the stabilisation force and in this situation will not participate, but backs all political efforts towards resolution – and remain at the forefront of humanitarian aid.
The UAE's announcement, made by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in the UAE capital, highlights regional reservations about the provisions of a US-drafted resolution previously circulated to diplomats at the UN in New York. The proposal assigns responsibility on a American-led stabilisation force to be the principal means of imposing security in Gaza after Israeli forces have left the territory.
Arab states would like expanded responsibilities to be given to a distinct local civilian police force. International law would also prohibit foreign troops from entering contested Palestinian territories unless there was explicit local approval; otherwise, the force could be seen as coercive under international statutes, and arguably reinforcing an illegal presence.
A Palestinian American co-author of the ceasefire proposal commented: “It is essential that the force be deployed not to reinforce the unlawful presence, but to uphold international law and end it. The mission will work as long as it operates in the whole occupied territory, including the West Bank, at the request of Palestine, and has a defined objective to end the presence within the context of a independent state of Palestine.”
There is no mention to the occupied territories in the US draft resolution, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a two-state solution, a outcome that Israel rejects.
Detailed negotiations on the stabilisation force mandate, including its leadership structure, began officially on last week in the UN headquarters, and look likely to be lengthy – potentially creating the development of a power gap in Gaza that may empower militant factions.
The United States is suggesting that it lead the force although it will not have many personnel deployed on the terrain. It has previously in effect assumed command of the distribution of humanitarian aid into Gaza from a recently established civil military coordination centre based in Israel.
The draft US resolution defines the aim of the stabilisation force as “together with the recently prepared and screened law enforcement to assist in protecting frontier zones, secure the safety situation in the region by ensuring the process of demilitarising the Gaza Strip including the elimination and prevention of rebuilding the militant and hostile facilities as well as the lasting decommissioning of arms from non-state armed groups”.
The force, answerable to a “peace council” led by the former US president, and not to the UN, would be required to use “all necessary measures” to fulfill its goals.
Regional powers including Qatari officials are also worried that this authority is overly broad, and if Hamas is to lay down arms, the faction will only do so to local counterparts, probably in the local law enforcement, at a time that, from the militant viewpoint, marks the conclusion of Israeli presence.
They also worry the proposed authority extends to giving the stabilisation force a governance role in the territory, a task that was to be reserved for a Palestinian expert panel working in conjunction with a reformed local government.
This “interim authority” in Gaza would remain until “the Palestinian Authority has adequately finished its reform program, the satisfaction of which shall be approved to the BoP”, the proposal states. It also “emphasizes the importance” of unhindered relief in the territory, 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 determined to have misused such assistance”. The wording permits the board of peace excluding Unrwa, the organization that the international court of justice has ruled is the legal provider of assistance.
France and Saudi representatives are already advocating for a reference to a sovereign Palestine to be included in the resolution. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the US presidential residence on the specified date, and Manal Radwan has stated that a reference to a Palestinian state is a prerequisite.
The PA chair, Mahmoud Abbas, held talks with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on this week to review the PA role.
Not the UN nor the 15-member UNSC are given a supervisory role over the mission, supervising the implementation of the proposal, a point largely overlooked by the proposed document. No details is specified about the financing of this stabilisation mission, which, as per the Americans, should be mostly borne by regional nations, with Saudi Arabia taking the lead.
Israel is requesting formal assurances from the United States that it be allowed to emulate the model of the Lebanese situation and retain the right to return to Gaza if it considers demilitarization is not taking place at a scale or speed it demands.
The Israeli proposal was put to the former US advisor, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in Jerusalem on this week to review progress on the truce and Witkoff was scheduled to arrive subsequently the same day.
Just the remains of four of the initial hundreds of captives remain not recovered.
Independently, Israel has been suggesting that the territory could yet be split in two with rebuilding efforts beginning in the Israeli-controlled parts of the region. Western diplomats maintain that this is no part of the former US administration's proposal.
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