UAE Declines to Join Gaza Stabilisation Force Without Clear Juridical Structure

Plans for an multinational security mission mandated by the UN to disarm Hamas in Gaza are facing growing opposition after the United Arab Emirates announced it would not join due to the absence of a well-defined legal framework.

Increasing Global Reservations

Israeli authorities have previously ruled out Turkish involvement, and Jordan's King Abdullah has declared that Jordanian troops will not join. The Azerbaijani government, previously considered as a potential contributor, was absent from a planning session in Turkey and said it would not contribute unless a complete truce was in place.

Emirati officials lacks clarity on a clear framework for the stability mission and in this situation will not participate, but backs all political efforts towards peace – and remain at the forefront of relief efforts.

Arab Skepticism and Legal Concerns

The Emirati announcement, delivered by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in Abu Dhabi, highlights Arab doubts about the terms of a US-drafted resolution previously distributed to diplomats at the UN in New York. The proposal assigns responsibility on a US-directed stabilisation force to be the primary means of ensuring order in the territory after Israel have withdrawn from the territory.

Regional governments would prefer greater responsibilities to be assigned to a separate local law enforcement agency. International law would also prohibit foreign troops from entering occupied Palestine unless there was explicit Palestinian consent; without it, the mission could be viewed as coercive under international statutes, and potentially stabilising an unlawful Israeli occupation.

Local Viewpoints and Calls for Definition

A Palestinian American co-author of the Palestinian armistice plan said: “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 work as long as it enters the whole occupied territory, including the occupied territories, at the request of the Palestinian authorities, and has a clear goal to end the presence within the framework of a sovereign Palestinian state.”

There is no mention to the West Bank in the American proposal, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a peaceful resolution, a outcome that Israel rejects.

Continuing Negotiations and Possible Risks

Detailed negotiations on the mission mandate, including its leadership structure, began officially on last week in New York, and appear to be protracted – potentially creating the development of a power gap in the strip that may empower Hamas.

The US is proposing that it command the force although it will not have many troops deployed on the ground. It has already effectively taken control of the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza from a recently established logistical hub based in Israel.

Mission Objectives and Governance Function

The draft American document defines the purpose of the stabilisation force as “along with the recently prepared and vetted law enforcement to assist in protecting border areas, secure the safety situation in Gaza by guaranteeing the procedure of disarming the Gaza Strip including the destruction and blocking of rebuilding the militant and hostile facilities as well as the lasting decommissioning of arms from militant factions”.

The force, reporting to a “peace council” led by Donald Trump, and not to the United Nations, would be required to use “all necessary measures” to fulfill its objectives.

Arab states including Qatari officials are also concerned that this mandate is overly broad, and if Hamas is to lay down arms, the faction will only do so to local counterparts, likely in the civilian police force, at a time that, from the Hamas viewpoint, marks the end of Israeli presence.

They also fear the proposed authority spills into giving the stabilisation force a governance function in Gaza, a task that was to be reserved for a local expert panel working in conjunction with a restructured local government.

Humanitarian Considerations and Financial Questions

This “transitional governance administration” in Gaza would remain until “the local government has satisfactorily completed its restructuring plan, the approval of which shall be approved to the board of peace”, the draft states. It also “underscores the significance” of unhindered humanitarian aid in Gaza, including through the United Nations, the ICRC, and the Red Crescent.

Nonetheless, it allows for the removal of “any group determined to have improperly used such assistance”. The wording leaves open the board of peace excluding Unrwa, the body that the international court of justice has said is the legal distributor of assistance.

International Diplomatic Efforts

French officials and Saudi Arabia are currently advocating for a mention 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 a Saudi foreign ministry official has stated that a reference to a independent Palestine is a requirement.

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

Neither the United Nations nor the 15-member UNSC are assigned a oversight function over the mission, supervising the execution of the proposal, a aspect mostly overlooked by the proposed document. No details is outlined about the financing of this stabilisation mission, which, as per the US officials, should be mostly covered by Gulf states, with Saudi Arabia assuming primary responsibility.

Israeli Demands and Regional Situations

Israeli authorities is seeking written guarantees from the US that it be permitted to follow the pattern of Lebanon and reserve the authority to re-enter Gaza if it considers disarmament is not occurring at a scale or pace it demands.

The request was put to Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in Jerusalem on Monday to review progress on the truce and the envoy was scheduled to appear subsequently the that day.

Just the bodies of a small number of the initial 251 captives are still not recovered.

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