UAE Declines to Join Gaza Security Force Without Clear Legal Framework

Plans for an international security mission authorized by the United Nations to disarm Hamas in Gaza are facing increasing resistance after the UAE announced it would not join due to the absence of a clear legal structure.

Increasing International Concerns

Israel have previously excluded Turkey participation, and Jordan's King Abdullah has declared that Jordanian forces will not participate. The Azerbaijani government, once considered as a potential contributor, did not attend a preparatory session in Istanbul and indicated it would not take part unless a full ceasefire was in place.

The UAE does not yet see a defined framework for the stabilisation mission and under such circumstances declines involvement, but will support all diplomatic efforts towards resolution – and stay at the forefront of relief efforts.

Regional Skepticism and Juridical Issues

The UAE's decision, delivered by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in Abu Dhabi, reflects Arab doubts about the terms of a US-drafted document previously circulated to diplomats at the UN in New York. 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 like greater responsibilities to be given to a separate local civilian police force. Global jurisprudence would also forbid external forces from deploying into occupied Palestinian territories unless there was clear local approval; otherwise, the mission could be viewed as imposed under UN law, and arguably reinforcing an unlawful presence.

Palestinian Perspectives and Calls for Clarity

A Palestinian American co-author of the Palestinian armistice plan commented: “It is essential that the mission be sent not to reinforce the unlawful presence, but to uphold international law and end it. The force 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 objective to end the occupation within the context of a independent Palestinian state.”

The draft contains no mention to the occupied territories in the American proposal, or to a Palestinian state, or a two-state solution, a prospect that Israel opposes.

Ongoing Discussions and Possible Dangers

Detailed talks on the mission authority, including its leadership structure, started formally on last week in New York, and look likely to be protracted – risking the emergence of a power gap in the strip that may strengthen Hamas.

The US is proposing that it lead the force although it will not have many personnel involved on the ground. It has previously effectively assumed command of the delivery of relief supplies into Gaza from a new logistical hub based in Israel.

Mission Objectives and Governance Function

The proposed American document outlines the aim of the stabilisation force as “along with the recently prepared and screened police force to assist in protecting border areas, secure the safety situation in the region by ensuring the process of disarming the territory including the destruction and prevention of reconstructing the militant and offensive infrastructure as well as the permanent decommissioning of arms from militant factions”.

The mission, answerable to a “board of peace” chaired by the former US president, and not to the UN, would be required to use “all necessary measures” to achieve its goals.

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

They also worry the proposed authority extends to granting the mission a administrative role in Gaza, a task that was to be set aside for a Palestinian technocratic committee working in cooperation with a restructured Palestinian Authority.

Humanitarian Considerations and Funding Issues

This “interim authority” in the strip would remain until “the Palestinian Authority has adequately finished its restructuring plan, the satisfaction of which shall be acceptable to the BoP”, the proposal states. It also “underscores the importance” of unhindered relief in Gaza, including through the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the humanitarian organizations.

Nonetheless, it allows for the removal of “any organisation determined to have misused such assistance”. The phrase leaves open the board of peace barring the UN relief agency, the organization that the international court of justice has ruled is the legal distributor of assistance.

Global Political Efforts

French officials and Saudi representatives are already advocating for a reference to a Palestinian state to be added in the document. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the US presidential residence on 18 November, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has said that a mention to a Palestinian state is a requirement.

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

Not the UN nor the 15-member security council are assigned a supervisory role over the mission, monitoring the implementation of the proposal, a point mostly overlooked by the draft text. Nothing is specified about the funding of this security operation, which, according to the US officials, should be mostly covered by Gulf states, with the Kingdom assuming primary responsibility.

Israeli Requests and Local Situations

Israel is requesting written guarantees from the US that it be permitted to follow the pattern of Lebanon and retain the authority to return to the territory if it believes demilitarization is not occurring at a scale or speed it requires.

The Israeli proposal was presented to the former US advisor, the ex-president's relative, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in the Israeli capital on Monday to discuss progress on the ceasefire and the envoy was scheduled to appear subsequently the that day.

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

Separately, Israeli officials has been suggesting that the Gaza Strip could yet be divided in two parts with reconstruction work beginning in the Israeli-controlled areas of the region. Western diplomats maintain that this is not part of the former US administration's proposal.