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

Proposals for an multinational security mission mandated 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 clear legal framework.

Increasing International Reservations

Israeli authorities have already excluded Turkish participation, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has declared that his country's troops will not join. The Azerbaijani government, previously mooted as a potential contributor, was absent from a planning meeting in Istanbul and said it would not take part unless a full truce was established.

Emirati officials lacks clarity on a clear structure for the stabilisation force and in this situation will not participate, but will support all political efforts towards peace – and remain at the vanguard of humanitarian aid.

Regional Doubts and Legal Issues

The UAE's announcement, made by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in Abu Dhabi, reflects Arab doubts about the provisions of a American-proposed document previously distributed to delegates at the UN in NYC. The proposal assigns responsibility on a American-led security mission to be the principal means of ensuring order in the territory after Israel have left the territory.

Regional governments would prefer greater duties to be assigned to a distinct Palestinian law enforcement agency. Global jurisprudence would also forbid foreign troops from deploying into occupied Palestine unless there was explicit local approval; otherwise, the force could be viewed as imposed under UN law, and potentially stabilising an illegal presence.

Local Viewpoints and Appeals for Clarity

Jamal Nusseibeh of the ceasefire proposal commented: “It is critical that the force be sent not to reinforce the unlawful Israeli occupation, but to enforce global standards and terminate it. The mission will work as long as it enters the entire disputed land, including the West Bank, at the invitation of the Palestinian authorities, and has a clear objective to end the presence within the context of a sovereign Palestinian state.”

The draft contains no mention to the West Bank in the American proposal, or to a Palestinian state, or a peaceful resolution, a prospect that Israel rejects.

Ongoing Discussions and Potential Dangers

Detailed negotiations on the mission authority, including its command and control, started officially on last week in New York, and look likely to be protracted – potentially creating the development of a vacuum in the strip 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 terrain. It has previously in effect taken control 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 draft American document defines the purpose of the stabilisation force as “along with the newly trained and vetted police force to assist in protecting frontier zones, stabilise the security environment in the region by ensuring the process of demilitarising the Gaza Strip including the destruction and prevention of rebuilding the militant and hostile facilities as well as the lasting decommissioning of weapons from militant factions”.

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

Arab states including Qatari officials are also concerned that this mandate is too expansive, and if Hamas is to disarm, the faction will only do so to fellow Palestinians, likely in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the militant perspective, signifies the end of Israeli presence.

They also fear the draft mandate spills into granting the mission a administrative function in Gaza, a responsibility that was to be reserved for a local technocratic committee working in cooperation with a reformed local government.

Humanitarian Aspects and Financial Issues

This “transitional governance administration” in Gaza would stay until “the local government has satisfactorily finished its restructuring plan, the satisfaction of which shall be acceptable to the board of peace”, the draft says. It also “emphasizes the importance” of full humanitarian aid in the territory, 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 provider of aid.

International Political Initiatives

French officials and Saudi Arabia are already advocating for a reference to a Palestinian state to be added in the resolution. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the US presidential residence on 18 November, and Manal Radwan has said that a reference to a independent Palestine is a prerequisite.

The Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, held talks with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on this week to discuss the authority's function.

Not the United Nations nor the 15 strong UNSC are assigned a supervisory function over the mission, supervising the execution of the proposal, a aspect largely ignored by the draft text. No details is specified about the financing of this stabilisation mission, which, as per the Americans, should be mostly covered by regional nations, with Saudi Arabia assuming primary responsibility.

Israel's Demands and Local Situations

Israel is seeking written guarantees from the US that it be permitted to follow the pattern of Lebanon and retain the right to re-enter Gaza if it considers disarmament is not taking place at a scale or speed it demands.

The request was presented to Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s relative, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in Jerusalem on this week to discuss developments on the ceasefire and the envoy was scheduled to arrive subsequently the same day.

Just the bodies of four of the original hundreds of Israeli hostages remain unreturned.

Separately, Israel has been suggesting that the Gaza Strip could still be divided in two parts with rebuilding efforts starting in the Israel occupied areas of the strip. International officials maintain that this is no part of the Trump plan.