🔗 Share this article

Proposals for an international security mission mandated by the UN to demilitarize the militant group in the Gaza Strip are encountering increasing opposition after the United Arab Emirates stated it would not join due to the absence of a clear legal structure.

Growing Global Concerns

Israeli authorities have previously excluded Turkey involvement, and Jordan's King Abdullah has stated that his country's troops will not participate. The Azerbaijani government, previously considered as a potential contributor, was absent from a preparatory session in Turkey and said it would not contribute unless a full ceasefire was in place.

Emirati officials lacks clarity on a defined structure for the stability mission and in this situation declines involvement, but backs all political efforts towards resolution – and remain at the vanguard of humanitarian aid.

Regional Doubts and Juridical Issues

The UAE's decision, delivered by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in Abu Dhabi, reflects regional doubts about the provisions of a American-proposed document already distributed to delegates at the UN in New York. The draft places an onus on a American-led security mission to be the principal means of imposing order in Gaza after Israel have withdrawn from the territory.

Regional governments would prefer greater duties to be given to a separate local law enforcement agency. International law would also forbid foreign troops from entering contested Palestine unless there was clear local approval; without it, the force could be seen as imposed under UN law, and arguably reinforcing an illegal Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Perspectives and Calls for Clarity

A Palestinian American co-author of the Palestinian armistice plan said: “It is critical that the force be deployed not to reinforce the illegal Israeli occupation, but to enforce international law and terminate it. The force will work as long as it enters the entire disputed land, including the occupied territories, at the request of Palestine, and has a clear objective to end the presence within the framework of a sovereign Palestinian state.”

The draft contains no mention to the occupied territories in the US draft resolution, or to a Palestinian state, or a peaceful resolution, a prospect that Israel rejects.

Continuing Negotiations and Potential Dangers

In-depth talks on the mission mandate, including its leadership structure, started formally on Thursday in New York, and appear to be protracted – potentially creating the emergence of a power gap in the strip that may empower Hamas.

The United States is suggesting that it command the mission although it will not have a large number of personnel involved on the ground. It has already effectively assumed command of the distribution of humanitarian aid into Gaza from a recently established civil military coordination centre based in the neighboring country.

Force Mandate and Governance Function

The proposed American document defines the purpose of the stabilisation force as “along with the newly trained and screened law enforcement to assist in protecting border areas, stabilise the safety situation in Gaza by ensuring the procedure of demilitarising the Gaza Strip including the elimination and prevention of rebuilding the militant and hostile facilities as well as the permanent decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups”.

The force, reporting to a “board of peace” led by Donald Trump, and not to the United Nations, would be mandated to use “any required actions” to fulfill its goals.

Regional powers including Qatari officials are also concerned that this authority is overly broad, and if the group is to disarm, the faction will only do so to local counterparts, probably in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the Hamas viewpoint, signifies the end of Israeli presence.

They also fear the draft mandate spills into granting the mission a governance function in the territory, a task that was to be set aside for a local technocratic committee working in conjunction with a restructured local government.

Aid Considerations and Funding Questions

This “transitional governance administration” in Gaza would remain until “the Palestinian Authority has adequately finished its restructuring plan, the approval of which shall be approved to the board of peace”, the draft says. It also “underscores the importance” of full humanitarian aid in the territory, including through the UN, the ICRC, and the humanitarian organizations.

Nonetheless, it opens the door the exclusion of “any organisation found to have misused such assistance”. The wording permits the board of peace excluding the UN relief agency, the organization that the global judicial body has said is the lawful distributor of assistance.

International Diplomatic Efforts

France and Saudi representatives are already pressing for a mention to a sovereign Palestine to be included in the resolution. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the White House 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, met the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on this week to discuss the authority's function.

Not the UN nor the 15-member UNSC are assigned a oversight role over the stabilisation force, supervising the execution of the resolution, a point mostly ignored by the proposed document. No details is specified about the funding of this stabilisation mission, which, according to the Americans, should be largely covered by regional nations, with the Kingdom taking the lead.

Israel's Demands and Local Situations

Israeli authorities is seeking formal assurances from the US that it be permitted to follow the model of Lebanon and reserve the authority to return to Gaza if it believes demilitarization is not taking place at a level or pace it requires.

The request was presented to the former US advisor, the ex-president's son-in-law, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in the Israeli capital on this week to discuss progress on the ceasefire and the envoy was due to arrive subsequently the same day.

Just the bodies of a small number of the original hundreds of Israeli hostages remain unreturned.

Separately, Israel has been proposing that the Gaza Strip could yet be divided in two parts with rebuilding efforts starting in the Israeli-controlled parts of the strip. International officials maintain that this is no part of the former US administration's proposal.