🔗 Share this article

Proposals for an multinational security mission mandated by the UN to demilitarize the militant group in the Gaza Strip are encountering growing opposition after the UAE announced it will not take part due to the absence of a clear legal framework.

Growing International Concerns

Israeli authorities have previously excluded Turkish involvement, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has declared that Jordanian troops will not join. The Azerbaijani government, previously considered as a possible participant, was absent from a planning meeting in Turkey and indicated it would not contribute unless a full truce was in place.

The UAE does not yet see a clear structure for the stability mission and in this situation will not participate, but backs all diplomatic efforts towards peace – and stay at the vanguard of humanitarian aid.

Arab Doubts and Juridical Concerns

The UAE's announcement, made by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in Abu Dhabi, highlights regional reservations about the terms of a US-drafted document already distributed to diplomats at the UN in New York. The proposal places an onus on a American-led stabilisation force to be the primary means of ensuring order in the territory after Israel have withdrawn from the region.

Arab states would prefer greater duties to be given to a separate Palestinian law enforcement agency. International law would also prohibit foreign troops from deploying into contested Palestine unless there was clear Palestinian consent; without it, the force could be seen as coercive under international statutes, and potentially reinforcing an illegal Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Viewpoints and Calls for Definition

A Palestinian American co-author of the Palestinian armistice plan said: “It is essential that the mission be deployed not to reinforce the illegal Israeli occupation, but to uphold global standards and terminate it. The force will succeed as long as it enters the entire disputed land, including the West Bank, at the invitation of Palestine, and has a defined goal to conclude the occupation within the framework of a independent Palestinian state.”

The draft contains no reference to the occupied territories in the US draft resolution, or to a Palestinian state, or a two-state solution, a prospect that Israeli leadership rejects.

Ongoing Negotiations and Potential Dangers

Detailed negotiations on the mission mandate, including its leadership structure, started officially on last week in the UN headquarters, and appear to be lengthy – risking the development of a vacuum in the strip that may strengthen Hamas.

The US is proposing that it command the mission although it will not have a large number of troops deployed on the terrain. It has previously in effect taken control of the distribution of humanitarian aid into the territory from a new civil military coordination centre based in Israel.

Force Objectives and Governance Function

The draft US resolution outlines the purpose of the stabilisation force as “along with the recently prepared and screened law enforcement to assist in protecting frontier zones, stabilise the safety situation in the region by guaranteeing the process of demilitarising the territory including the elimination and prevention of reconstructing the military terror and hostile facilities as well as the lasting decommissioning of weapons from militant factions”.

The mission, answerable to a “peace council” led by the former US president, and not to the United Nations, would be required to use “all necessary measures” to fulfill its goals.

Arab states including Qatari officials are also worried that this authority is too expansive, and if the group is to lay down arms, the faction will solely do so to local counterparts, probably in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the militant viewpoint, marks the conclusion of Israeli presence.

They also fear the draft mandate extends to granting the mission a administrative role in Gaza, a task that was to be set aside for a local technocratic committee working in cooperation with a restructured local government.

Humanitarian Aspects and Funding Issues

This “interim authority” in Gaza would stay until “the Palestinian Authority has satisfactorily completed its reform program, the satisfaction of which shall be acceptable to the board of peace”, the proposal says. It also “emphasizes the importance” of full humanitarian aid in the territory, including through the United Nations, the ICRC, and the Red Crescent.

However, it opens the door the removal of “any group determined to have improperly used such assistance”. The wording leaves open the board of peace barring the UN relief agency, the organization that the international court of justice has ruled is the legal distributor of assistance.

Global Diplomatic Efforts

France and Saudi Arabia are currently advocating for a reference to a Palestinian state to be added in the resolution. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the White House on 18 November, and Manal Radwan has stated 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 Paris on this week to review the authority's function.

Not the UN nor the 15-member UNSC are assigned a oversight role over the mission, monitoring the implementation of the resolution, a aspect largely overlooked by the draft text. No details is specified about the funding of this stabilisation mission, which, as per the Americans, should be largely covered by regional nations, with the Kingdom assuming primary responsibility.

Israeli Demands and Regional Developments

Israel is requesting formal assurances from the US that it be allowed to follow the model of the Lebanese situation and retain the right to return to Gaza if it believes demilitarization is not taking place at a level or pace it demands.

The request was put to the former US advisor, the ex-president's relative, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in the Israeli capital on this week to discuss developments on the ceasefire and Witkoff was scheduled to arrive later the same day.

Just the remains of four of the initial hundreds of Israeli hostages remain unreturned.

Separately, Israeli officials has been proposing that the territory could yet be split in two with rebuilding efforts beginning in the Israel occupied parts of the region. Western diplomats insist that this is no part of the Trump plan.