🔗 Share this article

Plans for an international security mission mandated by the United Nations to disarm Hamas in the Gaza Strip are encountering growing resistance after the United Arab Emirates stated it would not take part due to the lack of a clear legal framework.

Growing International Concerns

Israel have previously excluded Turkish participation, and Jordan's King Abdullah has stated that Jordanian troops will not participate. Azerbaijan, once considered as a possible participant, did not attend a preparatory meeting in Turkey and said it would not take part unless a complete ceasefire was in place.

Emirati officials lacks clarity on a clear framework for the stability force and in this situation declines involvement, but will support all political initiatives towards peace – and stay at the vanguard of humanitarian aid.

Regional Skepticism and Legal Issues

The Emirati announcement, delivered by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in Abu Dhabi, highlights regional doubts about the provisions of a American-proposed document previously distributed to delegates at the UN in NYC. The draft places an onus on a American-led security mission to be the primary means of ensuring security in Gaza after Israeli forces have withdrawn from the region.

Arab states would prefer greater responsibilities to be assigned to a separate Palestinian civilian police force. International law would also forbid foreign troops from deploying into occupied Palestinian territories unless there was explicit local approval; without it, the mission could be viewed as imposed under UN law, and arguably stabilising an illegal presence.

Local Perspectives and Appeals for Definition

Jamal Nusseibeh of the Palestinian armistice plan said: “It is essential that the force be sent not to stabilise the unlawful Israeli occupation, but to uphold international law and end it. The mission will succeed as long as it operates in the entire occupied territory, including the occupied territories, at the request of the Palestinian authorities, and has a defined goal to conclude the occupation within the context of a independent state of Palestine.”

The draft contains no mention to the occupied territories in the American proposal, or to a Palestinian state, or a two-state solution, a prospect that Israel opposes.

Ongoing Negotiations and Potential Risks

Detailed talks on the stabilisation force authority, including its leadership structure, started officially on Thursday in the UN headquarters, and look likely to be protracted – risking 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 ground. It has previously effectively taken control of the distribution of relief supplies into the territory from a new logistical hub based in Israel.

Mission Mandate and Administrative Function

The draft US resolution defines the aim of the security mission as “together with the newly trained and vetted law enforcement to assist in protecting border areas, stabilise the safety situation in the region by ensuring the process of disarming the territory including the elimination and blocking of reconstructing the militant and offensive infrastructure as well as the permanent decommissioning of arms 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 achieve its objectives.

Arab states including Qatari officials are also concerned that this mandate is too expansive, and if the group is to lay down arms, the faction will solely do so to fellow Palestinians, probably in the civilian police force, at a time that, from the Hamas viewpoint, signifies the end of occupation.

They also fear the draft mandate extends to giving the stabilisation force a administrative function in Gaza, a task that was to be reserved for a Palestinian technocratic committee working in cooperation with a restructured Palestinian Authority.

Humanitarian Considerations and Funding Issues

This “interim authority” in the strip would remain until “the Palestinian Authority has adequately finished its restructuring plan, the approval of which shall be acceptable to the board of peace”, the draft states. It also “underscores the importance” of unhindered humanitarian aid in the territory, including through the United Nations, the ICRC, and the humanitarian organizations.

Nonetheless, it allows for the removal of “any organisation found to have improperly used such aid”. The phrase permits the council barring Unrwa, the organization that the global judicial body has said is the legal distributor of assistance.

International Diplomatic Initiatives

French officials and Saudi Arabia are already pressing for a reference to a Palestinian state to be added in the resolution. The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the White House on the specified date, and Manal Radwan has stated that a reference to a Palestinian state is a prerequisite.

The Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, met the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on Monday to discuss the PA role.

Not the UN nor the 15 strong security council are assigned a supervisory role over the stabilisation force, monitoring the execution of the resolution, a point mostly ignored by the draft text. No details is outlined about the funding of this security operation, which, as per the Americans, should be largely borne by regional nations, with Saudi Arabia taking the lead.

Israel's Requests and Local Developments

Israeli authorities is requesting formal assurances from the US that it be allowed to follow the model of the Lebanese situation and reserve the authority to re-enter Gaza if it believes disarmament is not taking place at a scale or speed it demands.

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 discuss progress on the ceasefire and Witkoff was due to appear subsequently the same day.

Just the bodies of a small number of the initial hundreds of captives are still unreturned.

Separately, Israel has been proposing that the Gaza Strip could still be split in two with reconstruction work starting in the Israel occupied areas of the strip. International officials maintain that this is no part of the Trump plan.