United Arab Emirates has said it will not participate in the UN-mandated international stabilisation force as it did not yet see a clear legal framework for the force.
Previously, Israel said Turkey will not be joining the force and even King Abdullah of Jordan said Jordanian troops will not join. Azerbaijan did not attend a planning meeting in Turkey last week and said it would not participate unless a full truce in in place.
The Guardian quoted envoy Dr Anwar Gargash, at a conference in Abu Dhabi, said the UAE’s decision reflects Arab doubts about the terms of a US-drafted resolution already distributed to diplomats at the UN in New York.
According to the draft, the US-directed stabilisation force is necessary for imposing security in Gaza after
Israel has left the territory. However, there is no reference of West Bank or Palestinian state or a two-state solution in the draft proposal.
In the proposal, the US has suggested that it will lead the force but won’t have many troops on the ground.
The Guardian quoted the resolution defining the purpose of stabilisation force as “along with the newly trained and vetted police force to help secure border areas, stabilise the security environment in Gaza by ensuring the process of demilitarising the Gaza Strip including the destruction and prevention of rebuilding the military terror and offensive infrastructure as well as the permanent decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups”.
The force will be answerable to a “board of peace” chaired by Donald Trump and not to the UN.
Gargash said: “The UAE does not yet see a clear framework for the stability force and under such circumstances will not participate, but will support all political efforts towards peace – and remain at the forefront of humanitarian aid.”
Jamal Nusseibeh, a Palestinian American co-author of the Palestinian armistice plan, pointed out that it is critical that the force be deployed not to stabilise the unlawful Israeli occupation, but to enforce international law and end it. “The force will work as long as it enters the entire occupied territory, including the West Bank, at the request of Palestine, and has a clear objective to end the occupation within the context of a sovereign Palestinian state.”
According to The Guardian, detailed negotiations on the stabilisation force mandate, including its command and control, started formally on Thursday in New York, and look likely to be protracted – risking the development of a vacuum in Gaza that may strengthen Hamas.
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