United Arab Emirates Declines to Participate in Gazan Stabilisation Mission Lacking Defined Legal Framework

Plans for an international stabilisation force authorized by the UN to demilitarize Hamas in the Gaza Strip are encountering growing resistance after the United Arab Emirates stated it would not take part due to the absence of a well-defined legal structure.

Growing Global Concerns

Israel have already ruled out Turkey participation, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has declared that Jordanian forces will not participate. The Azerbaijani government, previously mooted as a potential contributor, did not attend a preparatory meeting in Istanbul and indicated it would not contribute unless a complete ceasefire was established.

Emirati officials does not yet see a clear structure for the stability mission and in this situation declines involvement, but backs all political efforts towards peace – and stay at the vanguard of humanitarian aid.

Arab Doubts and Juridical Issues

The UAE's decision, made by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in the UAE capital, reflects Arab doubts about the provisions of a American-proposed document already circulated to delegates at the UN in New York. The draft assigns responsibility on a US-directed security mission to be the primary means of ensuring security in the territory after Israel have withdrawn from the territory.

Regional governments would prefer greater duties to be assigned to a distinct local law enforcement agency. Global jurisprudence would also forbid external forces from deploying into contested Palestine unless there was explicit local approval; without it, the force could be seen as imposed under international statutes, and potentially reinforcing an unlawful presence.

Palestinian Viewpoints 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 terminate it. The mission will work as long as it operates in the entire occupied territory, including the occupied territories, at the invitation of the Palestinian authorities, and has a clear objective to end the occupation 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 sovereign Palestine, or a two-state solution, a outcome that Israel rejects.

Continuing Negotiations and Potential Dangers

Detailed talks on the mission mandate, including its command and control, started formally on last week in the UN headquarters, and appear to be lengthy – potentially creating the development of a power gap in the strip that may strengthen militant factions.

The United States is proposing that it lead the mission although it will not have many troops involved on the terrain. It has previously effectively assumed command of the distribution of humanitarian aid into the territory from a recently established logistical hub based in the neighboring country.

Mission Mandate and Administrative Role

The proposed US resolution defines the aim of the security mission as “along with the recently prepared and vetted police force to assist in protecting frontier zones, stabilise the safety situation in the region by ensuring the procedure of disarming the territory including the elimination and blocking of reconstructing the militant and offensive infrastructure as well as the lasting decommissioning of arms from non-state armed groups”.

The force, answerable to a “board of peace” chaired by the former US president, and not to the United Nations, would be required to use “all necessary measures” to fulfill its objectives.

Regional powers including Qatar are also worried that this mandate is overly broad, and if the group is to disarm, the group will solely do so to fellow Palestinians, probably in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the militant viewpoint, marks the conclusion of Israeli presence.

They also worry the proposed authority spills into granting the mission a administrative function in the territory, a task that was to be reserved for a Palestinian expert panel working in cooperation with a restructured Palestinian Authority.

Aid Considerations and Financial Questions

This “transitional governance administration” in the strip would remain until “the local government has adequately completed its restructuring plan, the approval of which shall be acceptable to the BoP”, the draft states. It also “emphasizes the significance” of unhindered relief in Gaza, including through the United Nations, the ICRC, and the Red Crescent.

Nonetheless, it opens the door the removal of “any organisation determined to have misused such assistance”. The wording permits the board of peace barring the UN relief agency, the organization that the international court of justice has ruled is the lawful provider of aid.

Global Political Efforts

French officials and Saudi representatives are already advocating for a mention to a sovereign Palestine to be added 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 said that a mention to a Palestinian state is a prerequisite.

The Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, held talks with the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on Monday to review the PA role.

Neither the United Nations nor the 15-member security council are given a oversight role over the stabilisation force, monitoring the execution of the proposal, a point mostly overlooked by the draft text. Nothing is specified about the financing of this security operation, which, as per the Americans, should be mostly borne by Gulf states, with the Kingdom taking the lead.

Israel's Requests and Regional Situations

Israeli authorities is requesting formal assurances from the US that it be allowed to follow the pattern of Lebanon and retain the right to re-enter the territory if it considers demilitarization is not taking place at a level or pace it demands.

The Israeli proposal was put to Jared Kushner, the ex-president's son-in-law, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in Jerusalem on this week to review developments on the ceasefire and Witkoff was scheduled to appear later the that day.

Just the remains of four of the initial hundreds of captives are still unreturned.

Separately, Israel has been suggesting that the territory could still be divided in two parts with rebuilding efforts beginning in the Israeli-controlled parts of the region. Western diplomats maintain that this is not part of the Trump plan.