Plans for an international security mission authorized by the United Nations to disarm the militant group in Gaza are encountering growing resistance after the UAE announced it will not join due to the lack of a clear legal structure.
Israel have already excluded Turkey involvement, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has stated that Jordanian troops will not join. The Azerbaijani government, once considered as a potential participant, was absent from a preparatory session in Istanbul and said it would not take part unless a full truce was in place.
Emirati officials lacks clarity on a defined framework for the stability force and under such circumstances will not participate, but backs all diplomatic efforts towards resolution â and remain at the vanguard of relief efforts.
The UAE's announcement, delivered by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in the UAE capital, highlights Arab doubts about the terms of a US-drafted resolution already distributed to delegates at the UN in New York. The draft assigns responsibility on a US-directed security mission to be the principal means of imposing security in the territory after Israeli forces have left the region.
Regional governments would prefer greater duties to be given to a distinct local law enforcement agency. International law would also forbid foreign troops from entering contested Palestinian territories unless there was explicit local approval; otherwise, the mission could be seen as coercive under UN law, and arguably stabilising an illegal Israeli occupation.
Jamal Nusseibeh of the ceasefire proposal commented: âIt is critical that the mission be deployed not to reinforce the unlawful Israeli occupation, but to uphold international law and end it. The force will succeed as long as it operates in the whole occupied territory, including the occupied territories, at the invitation of Palestine, and has a clear goal to conclude the presence within the context of a independent state of Palestine.â
The draft contains no reference to the occupied territories in the American proposal, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a two-state solution, a prospect that Israel rejects.
Detailed talks on the mission mandate, including its command and control, began formally on last week in the UN headquarters, and look likely to be protracted â potentially creating the emergence of a vacuum in Gaza that may empower Hamas.
The US is suggesting that it command the mission although it will not have many troops involved on the terrain. It has already in effect taken control of the distribution of relief supplies into Gaza from a new logistical hub based in the neighboring country.
The proposed American document defines the aim of the stabilisation force as âalong with the newly trained and vetted police force to assist in protecting frontier zones, secure the security environment in the region by guaranteeing the process of demilitarising the Gaza Strip including the destruction and prevention of rebuilding the militant and offensive infrastructure as well as the lasting decommissioning of arms from militant factionsâ.
The mission, answerable to a âboard of peaceâ led by the former US president, and not to the UN, would be mandated to use âany required actionsâ to fulfill its goals.
Arab states including Qatar are also worried that this authority is overly broad, and if the group is to lay down arms, the group will solely do so to local counterparts, likely in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the militant viewpoint, marks the end of occupation.
They also worry the proposed authority extends to giving the stabilisation force a governance function in the territory, a responsibility that was to be set aside for a local technocratic committee working in cooperation with a reformed Palestinian Authority.
This âinterim authorityâ in Gaza would remain until âthe local government has adequately completed its restructuring plan, the approval of which shall be acceptable to the BoPâ, the draft states. It also âunderscores the importanceâ of full relief in the territory, including through the United Nations, the ICRC, and the Red Crescent.
However, it allows for the removal of âany organisation determined to have improperly used such aidâ. The phrase leaves open the board of peace barring Unrwa, the organization that the international court of justice has said is the legal provider of assistance.
France and Saudi representatives are already pressing for a mention to a sovereign Palestine to be added in the document. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the US presidential residence on 18 November, and Manal Radwan has stated that a reference to a Palestinian state is a requirement.
The PA chair, Mahmoud Abbas, held talks with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on this week to review the authority's function.
Neither the United Nations nor the 15-member UNSC are assigned a supervisory role over the stabilisation force, monitoring the implementation of the proposal, a aspect mostly ignored by the proposed document. No details is specified about the financing of this stabilisation mission, which, as per the US officials, should be largely covered by Gulf states, with Saudi Arabia taking the lead.
Israeli authorities is seeking formal assurances from the US that it be allowed to follow the model of Lebanon and retain the right to re-enter Gaza if it considers demilitarization is not taking place at a level or pace it requires.
The request was presented to Jared Kushner, Donald Trumpâs son-in-law, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in Jerusalem on this week to review developments on the truce and the envoy was due to appear subsequently the same day.
Only the bodies of a small number of the original 251 Israeli hostages are still unreturned.
Separately, Israeli officials has been proposing that the territory could yet be split in two parts with rebuilding efforts beginning in the Israel occupied parts of the region. Western diplomats maintain that this is not part of the Trump plan.
Elara Vance is a dedicated MapleStory enthusiast and gaming writer, known for creating in-depth guides and staying updated on game mechanics.
