Plans for an multinational stabilisation force authorized by the UN to demilitarize Hamas in the Gaza Strip are encountering increasing resistance after the United Arab Emirates stated it would not join due to the absence of a well-defined legal structure.
Israeli authorities have previously excluded Turkish involvement, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has stated that his country's forces will not participate. The Azerbaijani government, previously considered as a potential participant, was absent from a preparatory session 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 stability mission and in this situation will not participate, but backs all diplomatic initiatives towards peace â and remain at the vanguard of relief efforts.
The UAE's decision, delivered by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in Abu Dhabi, reflects Arab doubts about the provisions of a American-proposed document already distributed to diplomats at the UN in NYC. The draft places an onus on a US-directed security mission to be the primary means of imposing security in the territory after Israeli forces have withdrawn from the region.
Regional governments would like greater responsibilities to be given to a distinct Palestinian law enforcement agency. Global jurisprudence would also prohibit foreign troops from deploying into occupied Palestine unless there was clear local approval; otherwise, the mission could be viewed as coercive under UN law, and potentially reinforcing an illegal presence.
Jamal Nusseibeh of the Palestinian armistice plan said: âIt is essential that the mission be sent not to stabilise the illegal Israeli occupation, but to uphold global standards and end it. The mission will succeed as long as it operates in the whole disputed land, including the West Bank, at the invitation of Palestine, and has a clear objective to end the presence within the framework of a independent Palestinian state.â
The draft contains no reference to the occupied territories in the American proposal, or to a Palestinian state, or a peaceful resolution, a prospect that Israeli leadership rejects.
Detailed talks on the mission authority, including its leadership structure, started formally on Thursday in New York, and look likely to be protracted â potentially creating the development of a power gap in Gaza that may strengthen Hamas.
The US is proposing that it lead the mission although it will not have many troops involved on the ground. It has already effectively assumed command of the distribution of relief supplies into Gaza from a new civil military coordination centre based in Israel.
The draft American document outlines the aim of the security mission as âalong with the newly trained and screened police force to assist in protecting border areas, secure the safety situation in the region by guaranteeing the procedure of demilitarising the Gaza Strip including the elimination and prevention of reconstructing the militant and hostile facilities as well as the permanent decommissioning of arms from non-state armed groupsâ.
The mission, reporting to a âpeace councilâ chaired by the former US president, and not to the UN, would be required to use âall necessary measuresâ to achieve its goals.
Regional powers including Qatar are also concerned that this mandate is too expansive, and if Hamas is to lay down arms, the group will solely do so to fellow Palestinians, likely in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the Hamas perspective, marks the end of Israeli presence.
They also worry the proposed authority extends to granting the stabilisation force a governance function in Gaza, a responsibility that was to be set aside for a local technocratic committee working in cooperation with a reformed local government.
This âtransitional governance administrationâ in Gaza would stay until âthe Palestinian Authority has satisfactorily finished its restructuring plan, the approval of which shall be acceptable to the board of peaceâ, the draft says. It also âemphasizes the significanceâ of full relief in the territory, including through the United Nations, the ICRC, and the humanitarian organizations.
Nonetheless, it opens the door the exclusion of âany organisation found to have improperly used such aidâ. The phrase leaves open the board of peace barring Unrwa, the organization that the global judicial body has ruled is the legal provider of aid.
French officials and Saudi Arabia are currently pressing for a mention to a sovereign Palestine to be added in the document. The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the US presidential residence on the specified date, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has said that a reference to a independent Palestine is a prerequisite.
The PA chair, Mahmoud Abbas, held talks with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on Monday to review the authority's function.
Not the UN nor the 15 strong UNSC are assigned a supervisory role over the stabilisation force, supervising the execution of the proposal, a point largely ignored by the draft text. No details is outlined about the financing of this security operation, which, as per the US officials, should be mostly borne by Gulf states, with Saudi Arabia assuming primary responsibility.
Israeli authorities is requesting written guarantees from the US that it be permitted to emulate the model of the Lebanese situation and reserve the authority to return to the territory if it considers disarmament is not taking place at a scale or pace it requires.
The request was put to the former US advisor, the ex-president's relative, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in the Israeli capital on Monday to review developments on the truce and Witkoff was due to appear subsequently the that day.
Just the bodies of a small number of the original hundreds of Israeli hostages remain not recovered.
Separately, Israeli officials has been suggesting that the territory could still be divided in two with reconstruction work beginning in the Israel occupied parts of the region. International officials insist that this is no part of the Trump plan.
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