UAE Declines to Participate in Gaza Stabilisation Force Lacking Defined Legal Framework

Plans for an multinational stabilisation force mandated by the United Nations to disarm the militant group in the Gaza Strip are encountering increasing resistance after the United Arab Emirates announced it would not join due to the lack of a well-defined legal structure.

Increasing International Reservations

Israel have previously excluded Turkish involvement, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has stated that Jordanian forces will not join. Azerbaijan, once mooted as a potential contributor, was absent from a planning session in Istanbul and said it would not take part unless a full truce was established.

The UAE lacks clarity on a clear framework for the stabilisation force and in this situation declines involvement, but backs all political efforts towards peace – and remain at the forefront of humanitarian aid.

Regional Doubts and Juridical Concerns

The Emirati decision, delivered by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in Abu Dhabi, reflects Arab reservations about the provisions of a US-drafted document previously circulated to delegates at the UN in New York. The draft assigns responsibility on a US-directed stabilisation force to be the principal means of ensuring security in Gaza after Israel have left the region.

Regional governments would prefer greater responsibilities to be given to a separate local law enforcement agency. International law would also forbid foreign troops from deploying into occupied Palestine unless there was clear Palestinian consent; otherwise, the mission could be viewed as imposed under international statutes, and potentially stabilising an unlawful Israeli occupation.

Local Perspectives and Calls for Clarity

Jamal Nusseibeh of the Palestinian armistice plan commented: “It is critical that the force be deployed not to reinforce the unlawful Israeli occupation, but to enforce global standards and terminate it. The force will work as long as it enters the whole occupied territory, including the West Bank, at the invitation of Palestine, and has a defined goal to end the presence within the framework of a independent state of Palestine.”

The draft contains no reference to the West Bank in the US draft resolution, or to a Palestinian state, or a peaceful resolution, a prospect that Israeli leadership opposes.

Continuing Discussions and Possible Dangers

In-depth talks on the mission mandate, including its leadership structure, started officially on last week in New York, and appear to be protracted – risking the emergence of a vacuum in the strip that may empower Hamas.

The United States is proposing that it lead the mission although it will not have a large number of troops involved on the terrain. It has previously effectively assumed command of the delivery of relief supplies into Gaza from a recently established civil military coordination centre based in Israel.

Mission Objectives and Administrative Role

The proposed US resolution defines the aim of the stabilisation force as “along with the newly trained and screened police force to assist in protecting border areas, secure the security environment in Gaza by guaranteeing the procedure of demilitarising the territory including the elimination and blocking of rebuilding the military terror and hostile facilities as well as the lasting decommissioning of weapons from militant factions”.

The mission, answerable 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 mandate is too expansive, and if the group is to disarm, the group will solely do so to fellow Palestinians, likely in the civilian police force, at a moment that, from the Hamas viewpoint, signifies the end of Israeli presence.

They also worry the draft mandate extends to giving the mission a governance role in Gaza, a task that was to be reserved for a Palestinian expert panel working in cooperation with a reformed local government.

Aid Aspects and Financial Questions

This “interim authority” in the strip would remain until “the Palestinian Authority has satisfactorily completed its reform program, the approval of which shall be acceptable to the BoP”, the draft says. It also “underscores the significance” of full humanitarian aid in the territory, including through the United Nations, the ICRC, and the Red Crescent.

However, it allows for the removal of “any organisation determined to have improperly used such aid”. The wording permits the board of peace barring the UN relief agency, the organization that the international court of justice has said is the lawful distributor of assistance.

Global Diplomatic Efforts

France and Saudi Arabia are currently advocating for a mention to a sovereign Palestine to be included in the resolution. The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the White House on 18 November, and Manal Radwan has said that a mention to a independent Palestine is a prerequisite.

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

Not the UN nor the 15-member security council are given a oversight role over the stabilisation force, supervising the implementation of the resolution, a aspect mostly overlooked by the proposed document. Nothing is specified about the funding of this stabilisation mission, which, as per the Americans, should be mostly borne by Gulf states, with the Kingdom taking the lead.

Israel's Requests and Regional Developments

Israel is requesting formal assurances from the US that it be allowed to follow the pattern of Lebanon and retain the authority to return to the territory if it considers demilitarization is not taking place at a scale or pace it demands.

The Israeli proposal was presented to Jared Kushner, the ex-president's son-in-law, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in Jerusalem on Monday to review developments on the truce and the envoy was scheduled to arrive later the same day.

Just the remains of four of the initial hundreds of captives remain not recovered.

Independently, Israel has been proposing that the territory could still be divided in two parts with reconstruction work beginning in the Israel occupied areas of the strip. International officials insist that this is no part of the Trump plan.