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Plans for an international security mission authorized by the United Nations to demilitarize the militant group in the Gaza Strip are encountering growing opposition after the UAE stated it would not take part due to the absence of a clear legal framework.

Growing Global Concerns

Israel have already ruled out Turkish involvement, and Jordan's King Abdullah has declared that his country's troops will not join. Azerbaijan, previously mooted as a potential participant, did not attend a preparatory session in Turkey and indicated it would not contribute unless a full ceasefire was in place.

The UAE does not yet see a clear structure for the stabilisation force and under such circumstances declines involvement, but will support all diplomatic initiatives towards resolution – and stay at the vanguard of relief efforts.

Regional Skepticism and Legal Concerns

The Emirati announcement, made by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in Abu Dhabi, highlights Arab reservations about the provisions of a American-proposed resolution previously circulated to diplomats at the UN in New York. The draft places an onus on a American-led stabilisation force to be the principal means of ensuring security in Gaza after Israel have left the region.

Regional governments would like expanded responsibilities to be given to a separate Palestinian civilian police force. Global jurisprudence would also prohibit foreign troops from deploying into occupied Palestinian territories unless there was clear local approval; without it, the force could be seen as imposed under international statutes, and potentially stabilising an unlawful presence.

Local Viewpoints and Appeals for Definition

Jamal Nusseibeh of the Palestinian armistice plan commented: “It is critical that the force be deployed not to stabilise the unlawful Israeli occupation, but to uphold international law and end it. The force will succeed as long as it enters the entire occupied territory, including the occupied territories, at the request of Palestine, and has a defined objective to conclude the presence within the framework of a independent Palestinian state.”

There is no mention to the West Bank in the American proposal, or to a Palestinian state, or a two-state solution, a prospect that Israel opposes.

Ongoing Discussions and Possible Risks

Detailed negotiations on the stabilisation force authority, including its leadership structure, began officially on Thursday in the UN headquarters, and look likely to be lengthy – risking the emergence of a power gap in the strip that may empower Hamas.

The US is suggesting that it command the mission although it will not have a large number of personnel involved on the ground. It has already in effect assumed command of the delivery of relief supplies into Gaza from a new civil military coordination centre based in the neighboring country.

Force Mandate and Governance Function

The proposed American document outlines the purpose of the stabilisation force as “together with the recently prepared and vetted police force to help secure border areas, secure the security environment in Gaza by ensuring the procedure of disarming the Gaza Strip including the elimination and prevention of reconstructing the militant and hostile facilities as well as the lasting decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups”.

The mission, answerable to a “peace council” led by the former US president, and not to the UN, would be mandated to use “all necessary measures” to fulfill its goals.

Regional powers including Qatari officials are also worried that this authority is overly broad, and if the group is to disarm, the group will only do so to local counterparts, probably in the local law enforcement, at a time that, from the Hamas perspective, marks the end of Israeli presence.

They also fear the draft mandate extends to granting the stabilisation force a governance role in Gaza, a task that was to be set aside for a Palestinian technocratic committee working in cooperation with a reformed Palestinian Authority.

Humanitarian Considerations and Financial Questions

This “transitional governance administration” in Gaza would stay until “the local government has satisfactorily completed its restructuring plan, the approval of which shall be acceptable to the BoP”, the draft states. It also “emphasizes the significance” of full humanitarian aid in the territory, including through the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Red Crescent.

Nonetheless, it opens the door the exclusion of “any group determined to have misused such aid”. The phrase permits the board of peace barring Unrwa, the organization that the international court of justice has said is the lawful distributor of aid.

International Political Initiatives

French officials and Saudi representatives are already advocating for a reference to a Palestinian state to be included 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 mention to a Palestinian state is a requirement.

The PA chair, Mahmoud Abbas, met the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on this week to discuss the PA role.

Not the United Nations nor the 15-member security council are assigned a supervisory function over the stabilisation force, supervising the implementation of the resolution, a point mostly ignored by the proposed document. No details is specified about the funding of this stabilisation mission, which, according to the Americans, should be mostly borne by Gulf states, with Saudi Arabia taking the lead.

Israeli Demands and Regional Developments

Israel is seeking written guarantees from the US that it be allowed to follow the model of the Lebanese situation and retain the authority to return to the territory if it believes demilitarization is not taking place at a scale or speed it requires.

The request was put to the former US advisor, Donald Trump’s relative, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in Jerusalem on Monday to discuss progress on the truce and the envoy was due to arrive subsequently the that day.

Just the remains of four of the original hundreds of Israeli hostages are still unreturned.

Independently, Israel has been proposing that the territory could yet be split in two parts with reconstruction work beginning in the Israeli-controlled areas of the strip. Western diplomats maintain that this is no part of the Trump plan.