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Proposals for an multinational security mission mandated by the United Nations to disarm the militant group in the Gaza Strip are encountering increasing opposition after the United Arab Emirates stated it will not join due to the absence of a well-defined legal framework.

Increasing Global Reservations

Israeli authorities have already ruled out Turkey participation, and Jordan's King Abdullah has declared that his country's forces will not join. The Azerbaijani government, once considered as a possible contributor, was absent from a planning meeting in Istanbul and said it would not take part unless a full truce was in place.

The UAE does not yet see a clear structure for the stability force and in this situation will not participate, but backs all political initiatives towards peace – and stay at the vanguard of humanitarian aid.

Regional Skepticism and Juridical Issues

The Emirati announcement, delivered by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in the UAE capital, reflects Arab reservations about the provisions of a US-drafted resolution already circulated to delegates at the UN in New York. The draft assigns responsibility on a US-directed stabilisation force to be the principal means of ensuring order in Gaza after Israel have left the territory.

Arab states would like expanded duties to be assigned to a separate Palestinian law enforcement agency. International law would also forbid foreign troops from deploying into occupied Palestinian territories unless there was explicit Palestinian consent; without it, the mission could be viewed as imposed under UN law, and arguably stabilising an illegal Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Viewpoints and Appeals for Definition

A Palestinian American co-author of the Palestinian armistice plan said: “It is critical that the force be sent not to reinforce the illegal presence, but to uphold global standards and terminate it. The mission will succeed as long as it enters the entire disputed land, including the occupied territories, at the invitation of Palestine, and has a defined objective to end the presence within the framework of a independent state of Palestine.”

The draft contains no reference to the occupied territories in the American proposal, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a two-state solution, a prospect that Israeli leadership opposes.

Ongoing Negotiations and Potential Risks

Detailed talks on the stabilisation force authority, including its leadership structure, began officially on last week in the UN headquarters, and look likely to be protracted – potentially creating the emergence of a vacuum in Gaza that may strengthen militant factions.

The US is suggesting that it lead the force although it will not have many personnel deployed on the terrain. It has already in effect taken control of the delivery of relief supplies into Gaza from a new logistical hub based in the neighboring country.

Mission Objectives and Governance Function

The draft US resolution defines the purpose of the security mission as “together with the recently prepared and screened police force to help secure frontier zones, stabilise the security environment in Gaza by guaranteeing the process of disarming the territory including the destruction and prevention of rebuilding the militant and hostile facilities as well as the permanent decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups”.

The force, reporting to a “board of peace” led by the former US president, and not to the UN, would be required to use “any required actions” to fulfill its goals.

Regional powers including Qatar are also concerned that this mandate is overly broad, and if the group is to disarm, the faction will solely do so to fellow Palestinians, likely in the civilian police force, at a moment that, from the Hamas viewpoint, marks the end of Israeli presence.

They also worry the proposed authority spills into granting the stabilisation force a governance function in Gaza, a responsibility that was to be set aside for a Palestinian technocratic committee working in cooperation with a restructured Palestinian Authority.

Humanitarian Aspects and Financial Questions

This “transitional governance administration” in the strip 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 “underscores the significance” of full relief in the territory, including through the UN, the ICRC, and the Red Crescent.

Nonetheless, it allows for the removal of “any organisation found to have improperly used such aid”. The wording permits the board of peace excluding the UN relief agency, the body that the global judicial body has ruled is the lawful provider of assistance.

Global Diplomatic Efforts

French officials and Saudi representatives are currently pressing for a mention to a Palestinian state to be added in the resolution. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the US presidential residence on the specified date, and Manal Radwan has stated that a mention to a Palestinian state is a requirement.

The PA chair, Mahmoud Abbas, held talks with the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on this week to discuss the authority's function.

Neither the UN nor the 15 strong security council are assigned a oversight role over the mission, supervising the execution of the resolution, a point mostly ignored by the proposed document. Nothing is specified about the financing of this stabilisation mission, which, according to the US officials, should be mostly borne by Gulf states, with Saudi Arabia taking the lead.

Israeli Demands and Local Situations

Israel is requesting written guarantees from the US that it be permitted to follow the model of the Lebanese situation and reserve the authority to re-enter Gaza if it believes disarmament is not occurring at a scale or speed it demands.

The request was presented to Jared Kushner, the ex-president's son-in-law, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in the Israeli capital on this week to review progress on the ceasefire and the envoy was due to appear later the same day.

Just the bodies of four of the initial hundreds of captives remain not recovered.

Independently, Israel has been proposing that the territory could yet be split in two parts with reconstruction work starting in the Israel occupied areas of the region. International officials insist that this is not part of the former US administration's proposal.