🔗 Share this article

Proposals for an international security mission mandated by the UN to disarm Hamas in the Gaza Strip are encountering growing resistance after the United Arab Emirates stated it would not join due to the lack of a well-defined legal framework.

Growing International Concerns

Israeli authorities have already ruled out Turkey participation, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has declared that his country's forces will not participate. The Azerbaijani government, once mooted as a potential contributor, was absent from a preparatory meeting in Istanbul and indicated it would not contribute unless a full ceasefire was established.

Emirati officials does not yet see a defined structure for the stability force and in this situation declines involvement, but will support all political initiatives towards peace – and stay at the forefront of relief efforts.

Arab Doubts and Legal Concerns

The Emirati decision, made by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in Abu Dhabi, reflects regional reservations about the provisions of a American-proposed resolution already circulated to diplomats at the UN in NYC. The proposal assigns responsibility on a US-directed stabilisation force to be the principal means of imposing order in the territory after Israeli forces have withdrawn from the territory.

Arab states would prefer expanded responsibilities to be assigned to a separate Palestinian civilian police force. Global jurisprudence would also prohibit foreign troops from entering occupied Palestine unless there was clear Palestinian consent; without it, the force could be viewed as coercive under international statutes, and potentially stabilising an unlawful Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Perspectives and Calls for Clarity

Jamal Nusseibeh of the Palestinian armistice plan commented: “It is essential that the mission be sent not to reinforce the illegal presence, but to enforce global standards and end it. The force will work as long as it operates in the whole disputed land, including the occupied territories, at the request of the Palestinian authorities, and has a clear goal to conclude the occupation within the framework of a independent state of Palestine.”

There is no mention to the West Bank in the US draft resolution, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a peaceful resolution, a prospect that Israel rejects.

Continuing Discussions and Potential Dangers

Detailed negotiations on the mission authority, including its command and control, started formally on last week in New York, and look likely to be lengthy – risking the emergence of a power gap in the strip that may strengthen militant factions.

The US is suggesting that it command the force although it will not have many personnel involved on the ground. It has previously in effect assumed command of the distribution of humanitarian aid into the territory from a recently established civil military coordination centre based in Israel.

Mission Mandate and Governance Function

The draft American document defines the purpose of the security mission as “together with the recently prepared and vetted law enforcement to help secure border areas, stabilise the security environment in Gaza by guaranteeing the process of demilitarising the territory including the elimination and blocking of reconstructing the military terror and hostile facilities as well as the permanent removal of weapons from militant factions”.

The force, answerable to a “board of peace” chaired by Donald Trump, and not to the United Nations, would be required to use “all necessary measures” to fulfill its goals.

Regional powers including Qatar are also worried that this authority is too expansive, and if Hamas is to lay down arms, the group will solely do so to local counterparts, probably in the local law enforcement, at a time that, from the militant perspective, signifies the end of occupation.

They also worry the proposed authority spills into granting the mission a administrative function in Gaza, a responsibility that was to be set aside for a Palestinian expert panel working in conjunction with a restructured Palestinian Authority.

Aid Aspects and Funding Questions

This “interim authority” in Gaza would stay until “the local government has adequately finished its reform program, the satisfaction of which shall be acceptable to the BoP”, the proposal says. It also “underscores the significance” 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 exclusion of “any organisation determined to have misused such aid”. The wording permits the board of peace excluding the UN relief agency, the body that the international court of justice has said is the lawful distributor of aid.

International Political Initiatives

France and Saudi Arabia are already pressing for a reference to a sovereign Palestine to be added in the resolution. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the US presidential residence on the specified date, and Manal Radwan has stated that a reference to a independent Palestine is a prerequisite.

The PA chair, Mahmoud Abbas, met the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on this week to discuss the PA role.

Not the UN nor the 15 strong UNSC are given a supervisory function over the stabilisation force, supervising the implementation of the proposal, a point largely ignored by the draft text. Nothing is specified about the funding of this security operation, which, as per the US officials, should be mostly borne by regional nations, with Saudi Arabia taking the lead.

Israel's Demands and Local Developments

Israeli authorities is seeking formal assurances from the United States that it be allowed to follow the pattern of Lebanon and reserve the right to re-enter Gaza if it believes demilitarization is not occurring at a scale or speed it requires.

The request was presented to the former US advisor, the ex-president's relative, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in Jerusalem on this week to discuss progress on the truce and the envoy was due to arrive subsequently the same day.

Only the remains of a small number of the original hundreds of Israeli hostages remain unreturned.

Independently, Israeli officials has been suggesting that the territory could yet be split in two with rebuilding efforts starting in the Israeli-controlled areas of the region. Western diplomats maintain that this is no part of the former US administration's proposal.