United Arab Emirates Declines to Join Gaza Security Mission Lacking Defined Juridical Structure

Plans for an multinational security mission authorized by the UN to demilitarize the militant group in Gaza are facing growing opposition after the UAE stated it would not take part due to the lack of a clear legal structure.

Growing Global Concerns

Israeli authorities have previously ruled out Turkey participation, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has stated that Jordanian troops will not join. Azerbaijan, once considered as a possible participant, did not attend a planning session in Turkey and indicated it would not contribute unless a full truce was established.

The UAE lacks clarity on a defined framework for the stability force and in this situation declines involvement, but backs all diplomatic efforts towards resolution – and stay at the vanguard of humanitarian aid.

Regional Doubts and Juridical Concerns

The Emirati decision, made by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in the UAE capital, reflects regional reservations about the provisions of a US-drafted document already distributed to delegates at the UN in NYC. The proposal assigns responsibility on a US-directed stabilisation force to be the primary means of ensuring order in the territory after Israeli forces have left the region.

Arab states would prefer expanded duties to be assigned to a separate local civilian police force. International law would also forbid foreign troops from deploying into contested Palestinian territories unless there was explicit Palestinian consent; otherwise, the mission could be seen as coercive under international statutes, and arguably reinforcing an unlawful Israeli occupation.

Local Perspectives and Appeals for Definition

Jamal Nusseibeh of the ceasefire proposal commented: “It is essential that the mission be sent not to stabilise the unlawful Israeli occupation, but to enforce international law and terminate it. The mission will work as long as it operates in the whole disputed land, including the occupied territories, at the invitation of the Palestinian authorities, and has a defined goal to end the occupation within the framework of a sovereign state of Palestine.”

There is no reference to the occupied territories in the US draft resolution, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a peaceful resolution, a prospect that Israeli leadership opposes.

Ongoing Discussions and Possible Dangers

In-depth talks on the stabilisation force authority, including its leadership structure, started formally on Thursday in New York, and appear to be lengthy – potentially creating the development of a vacuum in the strip that may empower Hamas.

The United States is proposing that it lead the force although it will not have many troops deployed on the terrain. It has already in effect taken control of the delivery of relief supplies into the territory from a recently established civil military coordination centre based in the neighboring country.

Force Objectives and Administrative Function

The proposed American document defines the aim of the stabilisation force as “together with the newly trained and screened police force to help secure frontier zones, stabilise the security environment in the region by guaranteeing the process of disarming the territory including the destruction and prevention of reconstructing the militant and hostile facilities as well as the lasting removal of arms from militant factions”.

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

Regional powers including Qatar are also concerned that this mandate is overly broad, and if Hamas is to lay down arms, the group will only do so to fellow Palestinians, probably in the civilian police force, at a moment that, from the Hamas viewpoint, signifies the conclusion of Israeli presence.

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

Aid Considerations and Financial Issues

This “interim authority” in Gaza would remain until “the Palestinian Authority has satisfactorily completed its reform program, the approval of which shall be approved to the BoP”, the draft states. It also “underscores the significance” of unhindered relief in the territory, including through the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the humanitarian organizations.

However, it allows for the exclusion of “any organisation found to have misused such aid”. The wording leaves open the board of peace barring Unrwa, the body that the international court of justice has said is the lawful distributor of aid.

International Political Initiatives

France and Saudi representatives are currently advocating for a reference to a sovereign Palestine to be included in the resolution. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the US presidential residence on 18 November, and Manal Radwan has stated that a mention to a independent Palestine is a prerequisite.

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

Not the UN nor the 15 strong security council are given a oversight function over the mission, monitoring the implementation of the resolution, a aspect largely ignored by the proposed document. Nothing is specified about the financing of this stabilisation mission, which, according to the US officials, should be mostly borne by Gulf states, with Saudi Arabia taking the lead.

Israeli Requests and Regional Situations

Israeli authorities is requesting written guarantees 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 occurring at a level or pace it requires.

The request was presented to Jared Kushner, the ex-president's relative, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in the Israeli capital on Monday to review progress on the truce and the envoy was scheduled to appear subsequently the same day.

Just the bodies of a small number of the initial 251 Israeli hostages remain unreturned.

Independently, Israel has been suggesting that the Gaza Strip could still be divided in two with reconstruction work beginning in the Israel occupied parts of the strip. International officials insist that this is not part of the Trump plan.