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Plans for an international security mission authorized by the United Nations to demilitarize the militant group in Gaza are facing growing opposition after the United Arab Emirates stated it would not join due to the absence of a well-defined legal framework.

Increasing Global Reservations

Israel have already excluded Turkey involvement, and Jordan's King Abdullah has stated that Jordanian forces will not join. Azerbaijan, previously mooted as a possible participant, did not attend a preparatory session in Istanbul and indicated it would not contribute unless a complete truce was established.

The UAE does not yet see a defined framework for the stability force and in this situation declines involvement, but will support all diplomatic efforts towards peace – and stay at the vanguard of humanitarian aid.

Arab Skepticism and Juridical Issues

The UAE's decision, made by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in the UAE capital, reflects regional doubts about the terms of a American-proposed resolution already distributed to diplomats at the UN in NYC. The draft assigns responsibility on a American-led stabilisation force to be the primary means of imposing order in the territory after Israeli forces have left the territory.

Arab states would like expanded duties to be assigned to a distinct local civilian police force. Global jurisprudence would also prohibit foreign troops from entering occupied Palestine unless there was explicit Palestinian consent; without it, the force could be seen as coercive under UN law, and arguably reinforcing an illegal presence.

Local Perspectives and Appeals for Definition

A Palestinian American co-author of the ceasefire proposal commented: “It is critical that the force be sent not to reinforce the unlawful Israeli occupation, but to uphold global standards and end it. The force will succeed as long as it operates in the whole disputed land, including the West Bank, at the invitation of the Palestinian authorities, and has a clear goal to end the occupation within the framework of a sovereign state of Palestine.”

There is no mention to the West Bank in the American proposal, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a peaceful resolution, a prospect that Israeli leadership opposes.

Ongoing Negotiations and Potential Risks

In-depth negotiations on the stabilisation force mandate, including its leadership structure, began officially on Thursday in the UN headquarters, and look likely to be protracted – risking the emergence of a vacuum in Gaza that may strengthen militant factions.

The United States is suggesting that it lead the mission although it will not have many personnel deployed 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 Israel.

Mission Mandate and Governance Function

The proposed American document outlines the aim of the stabilisation force as “together with the recently prepared and screened police force to help secure border areas, secure the safety situation in the region by guaranteeing the process of demilitarising the territory including the elimination and blocking of reconstructing the military terror and hostile facilities as well as the lasting removal of arms from militant factions”.

The force, reporting to a “peace council” chaired by the former US president, and not to the United Nations, would be required 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 Hamas is to lay down arms, the faction will only do so to fellow Palestinians, probably in the local law enforcement, at a time that, from the militant viewpoint, marks the end of occupation.

They also fear the proposed authority spills into giving the stabilisation force a administrative function in Gaza, a responsibility that was to be set aside for a local expert panel working in cooperation with a restructured Palestinian Authority.

Humanitarian Aspects and Funding Issues

This “transitional governance administration” in the strip would remain until “the Palestinian Authority has satisfactorily finished its restructuring plan, the satisfaction of which shall be approved to the board of peace”, the proposal states. It also “emphasizes the significance” of unhindered humanitarian aid in the territory, including through the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Red Crescent.

However, it opens the door the exclusion of “any group determined to have misused such assistance”. The phrase leaves open the council excluding the UN relief agency, the organization that the international court of justice has ruled is the legal distributor of assistance.

International Diplomatic Initiatives

France and Saudi representatives are already advocating for a reference to a Palestinian state to be added in the resolution. The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the US presidential residence on 18 November, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has stated that a mention to a independent Palestine is a requirement.

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

Neither the United Nations nor the 15 strong security council are given a supervisory role over the mission, supervising the implementation of the resolution, a point mostly ignored by the proposed document. Nothing is outlined about the funding of this stabilisation mission, which, as per the Americans, should be mostly borne by regional nations, with Saudi Arabia taking the lead.

Israel's Demands and Local Situations

Israeli authorities is requesting formal assurances from the US that it be allowed to follow the model of Lebanon and reserve the right to return to the territory if it considers disarmament is not occurring at a level or speed it requires.

The request was put to the former US advisor, Donald Trump’s relative, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in the Israeli capital on Monday to review progress on the ceasefire and the envoy was scheduled to appear later the that day.

Just the remains of a small number of the initial hundreds of captives remain unreturned.

Independently, Israeli officials has been proposing that the Gaza Strip could still be split in two with reconstruction work starting in the Israel occupied parts of the region. Western diplomats insist that this is not part of the former US administration's proposal.