Israeli tanks with guns are covered in plastic to protect from dust in a forward staging area along the border with the Gaza Strip on October 10, 12 days after a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. File Photo by Jim Hollander/UPI | License Photo
The United Arab Emirates on Monday said the nation will not participate in a global stabilization force in Gaza after Hamas’ war with Israel ends.
The U.S.-coordinated initiative is part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s regional peace plan to include Egypt, Qatar and Turkey. Those nations had been mediating a deal.
“The UAE does not yet see a clear framework for the stability force, and under such circumstances will probably not participate in such a force,” Emirati presidential adviser Anwar Gargash said during the Abu Dhabi Strategic Debate forum.
Israel doesn’t want Turkey participating, and King Abdullah has said Jordanian troops will not join.
Also, some Arab states want greater responsibilities for a separate Palestinian civilian police force.
Trump said last week the force would deploy to Gaza “very soon” and would be mandated by the United Nations but not have supervisory power. American troops will not be on the ground in Gaza.
Under international law, foreign troops are forbidden from entering occupied Palestine without explicit Palestinian consent.
“It is critical that the force be deployed not to stabilize the unlawful Israeli occupation, but to enforce international law and end it,” Jamal Nusseibeh, a Palestinian American co-author of the Palestinian armistice plan, told The Guardian.
“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.”
UAB has maintained ties with Israel since the Abraham Accords were signed in 2020.
The nation has worked on peace efforts in the Middle East. UAB fostered large-scale humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees displaced by civil war and internally displaced communities in Iraq.
The draft resolution doesn’t mention the West Bank, which includes Palestinians under the Palestinian Authority, or a two-state solution of Israel and Palestine.
Mahmoud Abbas, who leads the authority, met the French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Monday to discuss its role.
The cease-fire took effect on Oct. 10, two years after Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. There have also been short-term truces.
The deal was arranged by Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff. On Monday, Kushner was in Jerusalem to discuss progress on the cease-fire and Witkoff planned to go there.
The agreement also included the return of living and dead Israel hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. On Sunday, Israel received the remains of Lt. Hadar Goldin, an Israeli officer killed during the 2014 Gaza war.
Out of the 28 deceased hostages from the latest war that Hamas initially agreed to hand over, 23 have been returned. Also 20 living hostages were returned Oct. 10.
