United Arab Emirates Declines to Participate in Gazan Security Mission Without Defined Juridical Structure

Plans for an multinational stabilisation force authorized by the UN to demilitarize the militant group in Gaza are encountering increasing resistance after the UAE announced it will not take part due to the absence of a clear legal framework.

Growing Global Concerns

Israeli authorities have previously excluded Turkish participation, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has declared that Jordanian troops will not participate. Azerbaijan, previously mooted as a potential contributor, did not attend a preparatory meeting in Turkey and said it would not take part unless a full ceasefire was in place.

The UAE does not yet see a defined framework for the stabilisation force and in this situation will not participate, but backs all political initiatives towards peace – and remain at the vanguard of relief efforts.

Regional Skepticism and Juridical Concerns

The Emirati decision, made by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in Abu Dhabi, reflects Arab doubts about the provisions of a American-proposed resolution previously distributed to diplomats at the UN in New York. The draft places an onus on a American-led security mission to be the primary means of ensuring order in Gaza after Israeli forces have left the region.

Regional governments would prefer greater duties to be assigned to a distinct Palestinian law enforcement agency. International law would also forbid foreign troops from entering contested Palestine unless there was clear local approval; without it, the mission could be viewed as coercive under UN law, and potentially stabilising an illegal presence.

Local Viewpoints and Calls for Clarity

Jamal Nusseibeh of the ceasefire proposal commented: “It is critical that the force be sent not to reinforce the illegal Israeli occupation, but to enforce international law and end it. The mission will work as long as it enters the whole disputed land, including the West Bank, at the invitation of Palestine, and has a defined objective to end the presence within the framework of a sovereign state of Palestine.”

There is no mention to the occupied territories in the American proposal, or to a Palestinian state, or a two-state solution, a outcome that Israel rejects.

Ongoing Discussions and Possible Risks

Detailed negotiations on the mission authority, including its leadership structure, started officially on Thursday in the UN headquarters, and look likely to be protracted – potentially creating the emergence of a vacuum in Gaza that may empower militant factions.

The US is proposing that it lead the mission although it will not have many troops involved on the terrain. It has previously in effect taken control of the delivery of relief supplies into the territory from a recently established civil military coordination centre based in the neighboring country.

Force Objectives and Administrative Role

The draft American document outlines the purpose of the stabilisation force as “along with the recently prepared and screened police force to help secure frontier zones, secure the security environment in the region by guaranteeing the process of disarming the territory including the elimination and prevention of reconstructing the militant and offensive infrastructure as well as the lasting decommissioning of arms from militant factions”.

The mission, reporting to a “peace council” led by Donald Trump, and not to the UN, would be mandated to use “all necessary measures” to fulfill its objectives.

Arab states including Qatar are also concerned that this mandate is overly broad, and if Hamas is to lay down arms, the group will only do so to local counterparts, probably in the local law enforcement, at a time that, from the militant perspective, marks the end of occupation.

They also worry the proposed authority extends to giving the mission a administrative role in Gaza, a responsibility that was to be set aside for a Palestinian expert panel working in conjunction with a reformed local government.

Humanitarian Aspects and Funding Issues

This “transitional governance administration” in the strip would stay 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 “emphasizes the importance” of unhindered humanitarian aid in Gaza, including through the United Nations, the ICRC, and the Red Crescent.

Nonetheless, it opens the door the removal of “any group found to have improperly used such aid”. The wording leaves open the board of peace excluding Unrwa, the body that the global judicial body has ruled is the lawful distributor of assistance.

International Diplomatic Efforts

France and Saudi representatives are already pressing for a reference to a sovereign Palestine to be added in the resolution. The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the US presidential residence on the specified date, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has stated that a reference to a Palestinian state is a prerequisite.

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

Neither the United Nations nor the 15-member UNSC are given a supervisory role over the mission, monitoring the execution of the proposal, a point largely overlooked by the proposed document. No details is outlined about the financing of this stabilisation mission, which, according to the Americans, should be mostly covered by Gulf states, with the Kingdom assuming primary responsibility.

Israel's Demands and Local Developments

Israeli authorities is requesting formal assurances from the US that it be allowed to emulate the model of the Lebanese situation and retain the right to re-enter Gaza if it considers disarmament is not taking place at a scale or pace it requires.

The Israeli proposal was presented to the former US advisor, the ex-president's relative, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in the Israeli capital on this week to review progress on the truce and the envoy was due to arrive later the that day.

Just the bodies of a small number of the initial hundreds of Israeli hostages remain unreturned.

Separately, Israeli officials has been suggesting that the territory could yet be split in two with rebuilding efforts beginning in the Israeli-controlled parts of the strip. International officials maintain that this is not part of the Trump plan.