UAE Declines to Participate in Gaza Security Mission Without Clear Legal Framework

Proposals for an international security mission authorized by the United Nations to demilitarize Hamas in Gaza are facing increasing resistance after the UAE announced it would not join due to the absence of a well-defined legal structure.

Growing Global Concerns

Israel have previously excluded Turkey involvement, and Jordan's King Abdullah has declared that Jordanian forces will not join. The Azerbaijani government, previously mooted as a possible participant, was absent from a preparatory meeting in Turkey and said it would not contribute unless a complete ceasefire was established.

Emirati officials does not yet see a clear framework for the stabilisation mission and in this situation will not participate, but backs all diplomatic efforts towards resolution – and stay at the forefront of relief efforts.

Arab Doubts and Juridical Concerns

The UAE's decision, delivered by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in the UAE capital, highlights Arab doubts about the terms of a American-proposed resolution previously distributed to delegates at the UN in New York. The proposal places an onus on a US-directed stabilisation force to be the principal means of ensuring order in Gaza after Israel have left the territory.

Arab states would like expanded duties to be assigned to a separate Palestinian law enforcement agency. International law would also prohibit external forces from entering occupied Palestinian territories unless there was explicit local approval; without it, the mission could be viewed as coercive under international statutes, and arguably reinforcing an illegal Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Perspectives and Appeals for Definition

A Palestinian American co-author of the ceasefire proposal said: “It is critical that the force be deployed not to reinforce the unlawful Israeli occupation, but to enforce international law and end it. The force will work as long as it operates in the whole occupied territory, including the occupied territories, at the invitation of the Palestinian authorities, and has a clear goal to end the occupation within the context 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 two-state solution, a prospect that Israeli leadership opposes.

Ongoing Negotiations and Potential Dangers

In-depth negotiations on the stabilisation force authority, including its command and control, started formally on last week in New York, and look likely to be lengthy – potentially creating the emergence of a power gap in Gaza that may strengthen militant factions.

The United States is suggesting that it command the force although it will not have a large number of personnel deployed on the ground. It has previously in effect assumed command of the delivery of relief supplies into the territory from a new logistical hub based in Israel.

Mission Mandate and Administrative Function

The draft American document outlines the purpose of the stabilisation force as “together with the newly trained and vetted law enforcement to help secure border areas, stabilise the security environment in the region by ensuring the procedure of disarming the Gaza Strip including the elimination and prevention of reconstructing the militant and hostile facilities as well as the permanent decommissioning of arms from militant factions”.

The mission, reporting to a “board of peace” led by the former US president, and not to the UN, would be mandated to use “any required actions” to fulfill its goals.

Regional powers including Qatar are also concerned that this authority is too expansive, and if Hamas is to disarm, the group will solely do so to local counterparts, likely in the civilian police force, at a time that, from the Hamas viewpoint, signifies the end of Israeli presence.

They also fear the draft mandate extends to giving 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 Funding Issues

This “transitional governance administration” in Gaza would remain until “the Palestinian Authority has satisfactorily completed its reform program, the satisfaction of which shall be approved to the BoP”, the proposal says. It also “emphasizes the significance” of full humanitarian aid 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 improperly used such assistance”. The phrase leaves open the council excluding the UN relief agency, the body that the international court of justice has said is the legal distributor of aid.

Global Diplomatic Initiatives

France and Saudi representatives are already pressing for a reference to a sovereign Palestine to be added in the document. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the US presidential residence on 18 November, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has said that a reference to a independent Palestine is a requirement.

The PA chair, Mahmoud Abbas, held talks with the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on Monday to discuss the authority's function.

Neither the United Nations nor the 15-member security council are assigned a oversight function over the mission, supervising the execution of the resolution, a point largely overlooked by the draft text. No details is specified about the funding of this stabilisation mission, which, as per the US officials, should be mostly covered by Gulf states, with the Kingdom taking the lead.

Israeli Requests and Local Situations

Israel is seeking formal assurances from the United States that it be allowed to follow the pattern of the Lebanese situation and reserve the authority to return to Gaza if it considers demilitarization is not occurring at a level or pace it requires.

The request was put to Jared Kushner, the ex-president's relative, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in the Israeli capital on this week to discuss progress on the ceasefire and the envoy was scheduled to arrive subsequently the same day.

Just the remains of four of the initial hundreds of captives are still not recovered.

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