🔗 Share this article

Plans for an multinational stabilisation force mandated by the United Nations to demilitarize the militant group in Gaza are encountering increasing resistance after the United Arab Emirates stated it will not take part due to the lack of a clear legal framework.

Growing International Concerns

Israeli authorities have previously excluded Turkish participation, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has declared that Jordanian troops will not join. Azerbaijan, once mooted as a potential participant, did not attend a planning meeting in Istanbul and indicated it would not take part unless a complete ceasefire was established.

Emirati officials lacks clarity on a clear framework for the stability force and under such circumstances declines involvement, but backs all political efforts towards resolution – and remain at the vanguard of humanitarian aid.

Regional Skepticism and Juridical Concerns

The Emirati decision, delivered by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in Abu Dhabi, reflects Arab doubts about the provisions of a American-proposed resolution previously distributed to delegates at the UN in NYC. The proposal assigns responsibility on a American-led stabilisation force to be the principal means of ensuring order in Gaza after Israel have withdrawn from the region.

Regional governments would prefer greater responsibilities to be assigned to a distinct local civilian police force. Global jurisprudence would also forbid external forces from entering contested Palestine unless there was clear local approval; without it, the force could be seen as imposed under international statutes, and arguably reinforcing an unlawful Israeli occupation.

Local Perspectives and Calls for Clarity

A Palestinian American co-author of the ceasefire proposal commented: “It is critical that the force be deployed not to stabilise the unlawful Israeli occupation, but to enforce international law and terminate it. The force will work as long as it operates in the entire disputed land, including the West Bank, at the request of the Palestinian authorities, and has a clear objective to conclude the presence within the context of a sovereign Palestinian state.”

There is no mention to the West Bank in the American proposal, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a two-state solution, a prospect that Israeli leadership opposes.

Ongoing Negotiations and Potential Dangers

Detailed talks on the mission authority, including its leadership structure, started officially on Thursday in New York, and look likely to be lengthy – potentially creating the emergence of a vacuum in the strip that may empower militant factions.

The United States is proposing that it lead the mission although it will not have many troops deployed on the terrain. It has previously in effect assumed command of the delivery of relief supplies into Gaza from a new civil military coordination centre based in Israel.

Mission Mandate and Governance Function

The draft American document outlines the aim of the security mission as “together with the newly trained and screened law enforcement to help secure frontier zones, stabilise the safety situation in the region by guaranteeing the process of demilitarising the Gaza Strip including the elimination and blocking of reconstructing the militant and offensive infrastructure as well as the permanent removal of arms from non-state armed groups”.

The force, answerable to a “peace council” chaired by Donald Trump, and not to the United Nations, would be required to use “all necessary measures” to achieve its goals.

Arab states including Qatari officials are also concerned that this mandate is overly broad, and if the group is to disarm, the faction will solely do so to fellow Palestinians, probably in the local law enforcement, at a time that, from the militant viewpoint, signifies the conclusion of occupation.

They also fear the draft mandate spills into giving the mission a governance role in Gaza, a responsibility that was to be set aside for a Palestinian expert panel working in conjunction with a reformed local government.

Humanitarian Considerations and Funding Questions

This “transitional governance administration” in Gaza would stay until “the Palestinian Authority has satisfactorily completed its restructuring plan, the satisfaction of which shall be approved to the BoP”, the draft states. 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 humanitarian organizations.

However, it opens the door the exclusion of “any organisation determined to have misused such aid”. The phrase leaves open the board of peace barring the UN relief agency, the body that the international court of justice has said is the legal distributor of assistance.

Global Diplomatic Initiatives

France and Saudi Arabia are already advocating for a reference to a Palestinian state to be added in the document. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the US presidential residence on the specified date, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has stated that a reference to a Palestinian state is a prerequisite.

The Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, met the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on Monday to review the authority's function.

Neither the UN nor the 15 strong security council are assigned a oversight function over the mission, supervising the execution of the proposal, a aspect largely overlooked by the proposed document. Nothing is outlined about the financing of this stabilisation mission, which, as per the US officials, should be mostly borne by Gulf states, with the Kingdom assuming primary responsibility.

Israel's Demands and Regional Developments

Israeli authorities is seeking written guarantees from the US that it be allowed to emulate the pattern of the Lebanese situation and reserve the authority to return to Gaza if it believes disarmament is not taking place at a scale or speed it demands.

The request was presented 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 developments on the truce and the envoy was scheduled to arrive later the same day.

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

Separately, Israeli officials has been suggesting that the territory could still be split in two with rebuilding efforts starting in the Israeli-controlled areas of the strip. Western diplomats maintain that this is not part of the former US administration's proposal.