UAE Declines to Participate in Gazan Security Mission Lacking Clear Juridical Structure

Plans for an international stabilisation force mandated by the UN to demilitarize Hamas in Gaza are facing increasing resistance after the United Arab Emirates stated it would not join due to the lack of a well-defined legal structure.

Growing Global Concerns

Israeli authorities have already ruled out Turkey involvement, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has stated that his country's forces will not join. The Azerbaijani government, previously considered as a potential contributor, did not attend a preparatory meeting in Turkey and indicated it would not contribute unless a full truce was in place.

Emirati officials does not yet see a clear structure for the stabilisation mission and under such circumstances declines involvement, but will support all political initiatives towards resolution – and stay at the vanguard of relief efforts.

Arab Doubts and Legal Concerns

The UAE's decision, delivered by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in Abu Dhabi, highlights Arab reservations about the terms of a US-drafted document already circulated to diplomats at the UN in NYC. The proposal places an onus on a US-directed stabilisation force to be the principal means of ensuring order in Gaza after Israel have withdrawn from the territory.

Regional governments would prefer greater responsibilities to be assigned to a separate local law enforcement agency. International law would also prohibit external forces from deploying into contested Palestinian territories unless there was clear local approval; without it, the force could be seen as imposed under international statutes, and arguably reinforcing an unlawful Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Perspectives and Calls for Clarity

Jamal Nusseibeh of the ceasefire proposal commented: “It is essential that the force be deployed not to reinforce the illegal presence, but to enforce international law and end it. The mission will succeed as long as it enters the whole disputed land, including the occupied territories, at the request of the Palestinian authorities, and has a defined goal to conclude the presence within the context of a sovereign Palestinian state.”

The draft contains no reference to the West Bank in the American proposal, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a peaceful resolution, a prospect that Israel opposes.

Ongoing Discussions and Potential Risks

Detailed talks on the stabilisation force authority, including its leadership structure, began officially on last week in the UN headquarters, and appear to be protracted – risking the development of a vacuum in the strip that may strengthen militant factions.

The US is suggesting that it command the force although it will not have a large number of troops involved on the terrain. It has previously in effect taken control of the delivery of relief supplies into Gaza from a new civil military coordination centre based in Israel.

Force Mandate and Governance Function

The draft US resolution outlines the purpose of the security mission as “together with the recently prepared and vetted police force to assist in protecting border areas, stabilise the safety situation in the region by ensuring the process of demilitarising the Gaza Strip including the destruction and blocking of reconstructing the military terror and offensive infrastructure as well as the permanent removal of arms from non-state armed groups”.

The mission, answerable to a “peace council” led by Donald Trump, and not to the United Nations, would be mandated to use “any required actions” to fulfill its objectives.

Regional powers including Qatar are also concerned that this authority is overly broad, and if Hamas is to lay down arms, the group will solely do so to fellow Palestinians, probably in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the Hamas viewpoint, signifies the conclusion of Israeli presence.

They also worry the proposed authority spills into giving the stabilisation force a governance role in the territory, a responsibility that was to be set aside for a local expert panel working in cooperation with a reformed local government.

Aid Considerations and Funding Questions

This “interim authority” in Gaza would remain until “the Palestinian Authority has satisfactorily completed its restructuring plan, the approval of which shall be approved to the BoP”, the draft says. It also “underscores the significance” of unhindered humanitarian aid in Gaza, including through the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the humanitarian organizations.

However, it opens the door the exclusion of “any group found to have misused such assistance”. The wording permits the council excluding the UN relief agency, the organization that the global judicial body has ruled is the legal distributor of assistance.

Global Political Initiatives

French officials and Saudi Arabia are currently advocating for a mention to a sovereign Palestine to be included in the resolution. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the White House on 18 November, and Manal Radwan has stated that a reference to a Palestinian state is a requirement.

The PA chair, Mahmoud Abbas, met the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on Monday to review the authority's function.

Neither the United Nations nor the 15 strong security council are assigned a supervisory function over the mission, supervising the implementation of the proposal, a aspect mostly overlooked by the draft text. Nothing is outlined about the financing of this stabilisation mission, which, as per the US officials, should be mostly covered by regional nations, with the Kingdom taking the lead.

Israeli Demands and Local Developments

Israeli authorities is requesting written guarantees from the United States that it be allowed to follow the pattern of Lebanon and reserve the authority to return to the territory if it considers demilitarization is not occurring at a level or speed it requires.

The Israeli proposal was presented to Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in Jerusalem on Monday to review progress on the truce and the envoy was scheduled to appear subsequently the that day.

Just the bodies of a small number of the original hundreds of Israeli hostages are still not recovered.

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