UAE Refuses to Participate in Gaza Security Mission Lacking Clear Legal Framework

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 stated it would not take part due to the lack of a clear legal structure.

Growing International Concerns

Israel have already excluded Turkish participation, and Jordan's King Abdullah has declared that his country's troops will not join. The Azerbaijani government, once mooted as a potential participant, did not attend a preparatory meeting in Turkey and indicated it would not take part unless a full ceasefire was established.

Emirati officials does not yet see a clear framework for the stability force and in this situation will not participate, but will support all political initiatives towards peace – and remain at the vanguard of humanitarian aid.

Arab Skepticism and Legal Issues

The Emirati announcement, delivered by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in the UAE capital, highlights regional doubts about the provisions of a American-proposed document already circulated to delegates at the UN in New York. The proposal assigns responsibility on a US-directed security mission to be the primary means of ensuring order in the territory after Israel have left the territory.

Arab states would like expanded responsibilities to be given to a separate Palestinian civilian police force. International law would also forbid external forces from deploying into occupied Palestine unless there was explicit Palestinian consent; without it, the mission could be seen as imposed under UN law, and arguably reinforcing an unlawful Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Perspectives and Calls for Clarity

A Palestinian American co-author of the Palestinian armistice plan said: “It is essential that the mission be sent not to reinforce the illegal presence, but to uphold global standards and end it. The force will work as long as it operates in the whole disputed land, including the West Bank, at the request of Palestine, and has a clear objective to end the presence within the framework of a sovereign state of Palestine.”

There is no mention to the West Bank in the US draft resolution, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a two-state solution, a outcome that Israeli leadership rejects.

Continuing Negotiations and Potential Dangers

In-depth talks on the stabilisation force authority, including its leadership structure, started formally on last week in the UN headquarters, and look likely to be lengthy – risking the development of a power gap in Gaza that may strengthen militant factions.

The US is suggesting that it lead the force although it will not have a large number of personnel involved on the ground. It has previously effectively taken control of the distribution of relief supplies into the territory from a new civil military coordination centre based in the neighboring country.

Mission Mandate and Governance Function

The proposed US resolution outlines the purpose of the security mission as “together with the recently prepared and vetted police force to help secure frontier zones, secure the security environment in the region by ensuring the process of demilitarising the Gaza Strip including the elimination and prevention of reconstructing the military terror and offensive infrastructure as well as the lasting decommissioning of arms from non-state armed groups”.

The mission, answerable to a “board of peace” chaired by the former US president, and not to the United Nations, would be required to use “any required actions” to achieve its goals.

Regional powers including Qatar are also concerned that this mandate is too expansive, and if the group is to disarm, the faction will solely do so to local counterparts, probably in the local law enforcement, at a time that, from the militant perspective, marks the conclusion of Israeli presence.

They also fear the draft mandate spills into giving the stabilisation force a administrative function in Gaza, a responsibility that was to be reserved for a Palestinian expert panel working in conjunction with a reformed local government.

Humanitarian Aspects and Financial Questions

This “interim authority” in Gaza would remain until “the local government has satisfactorily finished its reform program, the satisfaction of which shall be approved to the board of peace”, the draft states. It also “emphasizes the significance” of unhindered humanitarian aid in Gaza, including through the United Nations, the ICRC, and the humanitarian organizations.

However, it allows for the removal of “any organisation determined to have misused such aid”. The phrase permits the council excluding the UN relief agency, the organization that the global judicial body has ruled is the lawful distributor of assistance.

International Political Efforts

France and Saudi representatives 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 White House on 18 November, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has said that a reference to a Palestinian state is a prerequisite.

The Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, held talks with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on Monday to review the PA role.

Not the United Nations nor the 15-member UNSC are given a oversight function over the mission, supervising the implementation of the proposal, a aspect largely ignored by the draft text. No details is specified about the funding of this security operation, which, as per the US officials, should be mostly covered by Gulf states, with the Kingdom taking the lead.

Israel's Requests and Local Developments

Israeli authorities is requesting formal assurances from the US that it be allowed to emulate the model of Lebanon and reserve the authority to return to the territory if it considers demilitarization is not occurring at a level or pace it requires.

The request was put to Jared Kushner, the ex-president's relative, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in the Israeli capital on this week to discuss progress on the ceasefire and Witkoff was scheduled to appear later the that day.

Only the remains of four of the initial 251 captives are still unreturned.

Separately, Israel has been proposing that the Gaza Strip could still be divided in two parts with rebuilding efforts starting in the Israel occupied parts of the strip. International officials maintain that this is not part of the Trump plan.