UAE Refuses to Participate in Gazan Stabilisation Force Without Defined Juridical Structure

Proposals for an international security mission authorized by the United Nations to demilitarize Hamas in the Gaza Strip are encountering increasing resistance after the United Arab Emirates announced it would not take part due to the absence of a clear legal structure.

Increasing Global Reservations

Israeli authorities have previously ruled out Turkey involvement, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has stated that Jordanian troops will not participate. Azerbaijan, once mooted as a potential participant, was absent from a preparatory session in Istanbul and indicated it would not take part unless a complete ceasefire was in place.

Emirati officials does not yet see a clear framework for the stabilisation force and under such circumstances will not participate, but backs all diplomatic initiatives towards peace – and stay at the vanguard of relief efforts.

Arab Skepticism and Legal Issues

The Emirati announcement, made by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in Abu Dhabi, reflects Arab doubts about the provisions of a American-proposed document already distributed to diplomats at the UN in New York. The proposal places an onus on a US-directed stabilisation force to be the primary means of imposing security in Gaza after Israel have left the region.

Regional governments would like expanded responsibilities to be given to a separate Palestinian law enforcement agency. Global jurisprudence would also forbid foreign troops from deploying into contested Palestine unless there was explicit Palestinian consent; otherwise, the mission could be seen as imposed under international statutes, and arguably stabilising an unlawful presence.

Local Perspectives and Calls for Clarity

A Palestinian American co-author of the Palestinian armistice plan commented: “It is essential that the force be sent not to stabilise the illegal Israeli occupation, but to enforce international law 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 Palestine, and has a defined objective to end the occupation within the framework of a independent state of Palestine.”

The draft contains no reference to the occupied territories in the American proposal, or to a Palestinian state, or a two-state solution, a outcome that Israel rejects.

Ongoing Negotiations and Potential Dangers

Detailed negotiations on the mission authority, including its command and control, 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 militant factions.

The US is suggesting that it lead the mission although it will not have a large number of personnel involved on the ground. It has previously effectively assumed command of the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza from a recently established logistical hub based in Israel.

Force Objectives and Administrative Role

The proposed American document outlines the aim of the stabilisation force as “along with the newly trained and vetted law enforcement to assist in protecting border areas, stabilise the security environment in Gaza by guaranteeing the process of demilitarising the Gaza Strip including the elimination and blocking of rebuilding the militant and hostile facilities as well as the lasting removal of weapons from militant factions”.

The mission, answerable to a “peace council” chaired by the former US president, and not to the UN, would be required to use “any required actions” to fulfill its goals.

Regional powers including Qatar are also worried that this mandate is too expansive, and if the group is to disarm, the group will only do so to local counterparts, likely in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the militant viewpoint, marks the end of Israeli presence.

They also worry the proposed authority spills into giving 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.

Humanitarian Aspects and Financial Issues

This “transitional governance administration” in the strip would remain until “the local government has satisfactorily finished its reform program, the approval of which shall be approved to the BoP”, the draft states. It also “emphasizes the importance” of unhindered 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 determined to have misused such assistance”. The phrase permits the board of peace excluding Unrwa, the body that the international court of justice has said is the legal provider of assistance.

Global Political Efforts

France and Saudi representatives are already advocating for a reference to a Palestinian state to be included in the document. 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 prerequisite.

The PA chair, Mahmoud Abbas, held talks with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on this week to review the PA role.

Not the UN nor the 15-member UNSC are given a oversight role over the stabilisation force, supervising the execution of the resolution, a aspect mostly ignored by the draft text. No details is specified about the financing of this stabilisation mission, which, according to the US officials, should be mostly borne by regional nations, with Saudi Arabia taking the lead.

Israel's Demands and Local Developments

Israel is requesting written guarantees from the United States that it be allowed to emulate the model of Lebanon and retain the authority to return to Gaza if it considers disarmament is not occurring at a level or speed it demands.

The request was presented to the former US advisor, Donald Trump’s relative, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in Jerusalem on this week to review progress on the ceasefire and the envoy was scheduled to appear later the that day.

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

Independently, Israeli officials has been proposing that the Gaza Strip could still be divided in two with rebuilding efforts beginning in the Israeli-controlled areas of the strip. Western diplomats insist that this is not part of the Trump plan.