🔗 Share this article

Plans for an international stabilisation force authorized by the United Nations to disarm Hamas in the Gaza Strip are encountering growing resistance after the UAE stated it would not join due to the lack of a well-defined legal framework.

Increasing International Concerns

Israeli authorities have already excluded Turkish participation, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has declared that his country's troops will not participate. Azerbaijan, once mooted as a potential participant, did not attend a planning session in Turkey and said it would not contribute unless a full ceasefire was established.

Emirati officials lacks clarity on a defined framework for the stability mission and in this situation will not participate, but will support all diplomatic initiatives towards resolution – and stay at the vanguard of humanitarian aid.

Arab Doubts and Legal Issues

The UAE's announcement, delivered by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in the UAE capital, highlights regional reservations about the provisions of a American-proposed document already circulated to delegates at the UN in NYC. The draft assigns responsibility on a US-directed stabilisation force to be the principal means of imposing security in Gaza after Israeli forces have left the region.

Arab states would prefer expanded duties to be given to a distinct local civilian police force. International law would also prohibit external forces from deploying into contested Palestinian territories unless there was clear local approval; otherwise, the mission could be seen as coercive under UN law, and potentially stabilising an unlawful presence.

Local Perspectives and Appeals for Definition

A Palestinian American co-author of the ceasefire proposal said: “It is essential that the mission be deployed not to stabilise the illegal Israeli occupation, but to enforce global standards and end it. The mission will succeed as long as it operates in the whole disputed land, including the West Bank, at the request of the Palestinian authorities, and has a defined goal to end the occupation within the framework 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 outcome that Israel opposes.

Ongoing Negotiations and Potential Dangers

In-depth talks on the mission authority, including its leadership structure, started formally on last week in New York, and appear to be lengthy – potentially creating the emergence of a power gap in Gaza that may empower militant factions.

The US is proposing that it lead the force although it will not have a large number of personnel involved on the ground. It has previously in effect taken control of the distribution of relief supplies into the territory from a recently established logistical hub based in Israel.

Mission Objectives and Governance Function

The draft American document defines the aim of the security mission as “together with the newly trained and vetted police force to help secure frontier zones, secure the security environment in Gaza by ensuring the procedure of disarming the territory including the elimination and prevention of rebuilding the militant and hostile facilities as well as the lasting decommissioning of weapons from militant factions”.

The mission, reporting to a “board of peace” chaired by Donald Trump, and not to the UN, would be required to use “any required actions” to fulfill its goals.

Regional powers including Qatari officials are also worried that this authority is too expansive, and if the group is to lay down arms, the faction will solely do so to fellow Palestinians, probably in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the Hamas viewpoint, marks the conclusion of Israeli presence.

They also fear the draft mandate extends to granting the mission a governance role in Gaza, a responsibility that was to be set aside for a local expert panel working in cooperation with a reformed local government.

Aid Aspects and Funding Questions

This “interim authority” in Gaza would remain until “the Palestinian Authority has satisfactorily finished its reform program, the approval of which shall be approved to the board of peace”, the proposal says. It also “emphasizes the importance” of unhindered relief in the territory, including through the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Red Crescent.

Nonetheless, it opens the door the removal of “any organisation found to have misused such assistance”. The wording permits the board of peace excluding Unrwa, the body that the global judicial body has said is the lawful provider of aid.

Global Diplomatic Efforts

France and Saudi representatives are already advocating for a reference to a sovereign Palestine to be added in the document. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the White House on the specified date, and Manal Radwan has said that a mention to a Palestinian state is a prerequisite.

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

Not the UN nor the 15-member security council are assigned a supervisory role over the mission, monitoring the execution of the proposal, a aspect largely ignored by the proposed document. Nothing is specified about the financing of this stabilisation mission, which, according to the US officials, should be largely borne by regional nations, with the Kingdom taking the lead.

Israeli Requests and Local Developments

Israeli authorities is requesting written guarantees from the United States that it be permitted to follow the model of the Lebanese situation and reserve the authority to return to Gaza if it considers disarmament is not taking place at a level or pace it demands.

The Israeli proposal was put to Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in the Israeli capital on this week to review developments on the ceasefire and the envoy was due to appear later the same day.

Only the bodies of four of the initial 251 captives are still not recovered.

Independently, Israel has been proposing that the territory could yet be divided in two with reconstruction work beginning in the Israel occupied areas of the strip. International officials insist that this is not part of the Trump plan.