UAE Refuses to Participate in Gazan Stabilisation Mission Lacking Defined Juridical Structure

Plans for an international security mission mandated by the United Nations to disarm the militant group in the Gaza Strip are encountering increasing resistance after the United Arab Emirates announced it will not take part due to the absence of a clear legal structure.

Growing International Concerns

Israel have already ruled out Turkish participation, and Jordan's King Abdullah has declared that his country's troops will not participate. The Azerbaijani government, once mooted as a potential contributor, was absent from a preparatory meeting in Istanbul and said it would not take part unless a complete truce was in place.

The UAE lacks clarity on a defined structure for the stability mission and under such circumstances declines involvement, but will support all diplomatic efforts towards peace – and stay at the forefront of relief efforts.

Regional Skepticism and Juridical Concerns

The Emirati announcement, delivered by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in the UAE capital, reflects Arab reservations about the provisions of a US-drafted document previously circulated to diplomats at the UN in New York. The draft assigns responsibility on a American-led security mission to be the principal means of imposing order in the territory after Israel have withdrawn from the territory.

Regional governments would prefer greater responsibilities to be assigned to a separate Palestinian law enforcement agency. Global jurisprudence would also prohibit foreign troops from deploying into contested Palestine unless there was clear local approval; otherwise, the force could be seen as imposed under UN law, and arguably stabilising an unlawful presence.

Palestinian Perspectives and Calls for Clarity

Jamal Nusseibeh of the ceasefire proposal said: “It is essential that the mission be sent not to stabilise the illegal presence, but to enforce global standards and end it. The mission will work as long as it operates in the entire disputed land, including the occupied territories, at the request of Palestine, and has a defined goal to end the occupation within the context of a independent Palestinian state.”

There is no reference to the West Bank in the US draft resolution, or to a Palestinian state, or a peaceful resolution, a prospect that Israel opposes.

Continuing Negotiations and Possible Dangers

In-depth negotiations on the stabilisation force mandate, including its leadership structure, began formally on last week in the UN headquarters, and look likely to be protracted – potentially creating the development of a power gap in the strip that may strengthen militant factions.

The US is suggesting that it lead the mission although it will not have a large number of personnel deployed on the ground. It has already in effect assumed command of the distribution of relief supplies into the territory from a recently established civil military coordination centre based in Israel.

Mission Objectives and Administrative Function

The proposed American document outlines the aim of the stabilisation force as “along with the recently prepared and vetted law enforcement to assist in protecting border areas, stabilise the security environment in Gaza by ensuring the process of demilitarising the territory including the destruction and blocking of reconstructing the militant and offensive infrastructure as well as the permanent 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 “any required actions” to fulfill its goals.

Regional powers including Qatar are also worried that this authority is too expansive, and if the group is to disarm, the faction will only do so to local counterparts, probably in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the Hamas viewpoint, signifies the end of Israeli presence.

They also fear the proposed authority spills into granting the stabilisation force a governance function in the territory, a task that was to be reserved for a Palestinian technocratic committee working in conjunction with a restructured local government.

Humanitarian Aspects and Financial Issues

This “interim authority” in the strip would stay until “the local government has satisfactorily completed its reform program, the approval of which shall be acceptable to the BoP”, the proposal states. It also “underscores the importance” of unhindered humanitarian aid in the territory, including through the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the humanitarian organizations.

Nonetheless, it allows for the removal of “any group determined to have improperly used such assistance”. The phrase permits the council barring the UN relief agency, the body that the international court of justice has ruled is the lawful distributor of assistance.

International Political Initiatives

France and Saudi Arabia are currently advocating for a reference to a sovereign Palestine to be added in the document. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the White House on 18 November, and Manal Radwan has stated that a reference to a Palestinian state is a requirement.

The Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, met the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on Monday to review the authority's function.

Neither the UN nor the 15-member UNSC are assigned a supervisory role over the mission, supervising the execution of the proposal, a aspect mostly overlooked by the draft text. No details is specified about the financing of this security operation, which, according to the US officials, should be mostly covered by regional nations, with Saudi Arabia taking the lead.

Israeli Requests and Local Situations

Israel is seeking written guarantees from the United States that it be allowed to emulate the pattern of Lebanon and retain the authority to return to the territory if it believes disarmament is not taking place at a level or pace it requires.

The request was presented to the former US advisor, the ex-president's relative, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in Jerusalem on Monday to review developments on the ceasefire and the envoy was due to arrive subsequently the same day.

Only the bodies of four of the original hundreds of captives are still not recovered.

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