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Proposals for an multinational stabilisation force mandated by the United Nations to disarm Hamas in Gaza are facing growing resistance after the UAE announced it would not join due to the lack of a well-defined legal structure.

Growing International Concerns

Israeli authorities have previously excluded Turkish participation, and Jordan's King Abdullah has declared that Jordanian forces will not join. The Azerbaijani government, previously considered as a possible participant, did not attend a planning session in Istanbul and indicated it would not take part unless a full truce was established.

The UAE lacks clarity on a clear structure for the stability mission and in this situation will not participate, but will support all diplomatic efforts towards resolution – and remain at the vanguard of relief efforts.

Regional Doubts and Juridical Concerns

The UAE's decision, delivered by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in the UAE capital, reflects regional reservations about the provisions of a American-proposed resolution previously distributed to diplomats at the UN in NYC. The draft places an onus on a American-led security mission to be the principal means of imposing security in the territory after Israeli forces have left the territory.

Regional governments would prefer greater responsibilities to be assigned to a distinct Palestinian law enforcement agency. International law would also prohibit foreign troops from deploying into contested Palestinian territories unless there was clear Palestinian consent; without it, the mission could be seen as imposed under UN law, and arguably reinforcing an illegal presence.

Local Perspectives and Appeals for Clarity

Jamal Nusseibeh of the Palestinian armistice plan said: “It is critical that the mission be sent not to reinforce the illegal Israeli occupation, but to enforce global standards and terminate it. The force will succeed as long as it enters the entire occupied territory, including the West Bank, at the request of the Palestinian authorities, and has a defined objective to conclude the occupation within the context of a sovereign state of Palestine.”

The draft contains no mention to the occupied territories in the US draft resolution, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a two-state solution, a outcome that Israel opposes.

Ongoing Negotiations and Potential Dangers

In-depth negotiations on the stabilisation force authority, including its command and control, began formally on last week in the UN headquarters, and appear to be lengthy – risking the emergence of a vacuum in Gaza that may strengthen militant factions.

The United States is proposing that it command the mission although it will not have a large number of personnel involved on the terrain. It has already in effect taken control of the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza from a recently established civil military coordination centre based in Israel.

Force Objectives and Governance Role

The draft American document defines the purpose of the security mission as “together with the recently prepared and screened police force to help secure frontier zones, stabilise the safety situation in Gaza by guaranteeing the process of demilitarising the Gaza Strip including the destruction and blocking of reconstructing the militant and offensive infrastructure as well as the lasting removal of weapons from non-state armed groups”.

The force, reporting to a “board of peace” chaired by the former US president, and not to the UN, would be mandated to use “all necessary measures” to fulfill its goals.

Arab states including Qatar are also concerned that this mandate is too expansive, and if the group is to lay down arms, the group will solely do so to local counterparts, likely in the civilian police force, at a time that, from the militant viewpoint, signifies the conclusion of occupation.

They also worry the draft mandate spills into giving the mission a administrative function in Gaza, a responsibility that was to be reserved for a local technocratic committee working in conjunction with a restructured Palestinian Authority.

Aid Considerations and Financial Issues

This “transitional governance administration” in the strip would remain until “the local government has adequately completed its restructuring plan, the satisfaction of which shall be approved to the BoP”, the proposal states. It also “emphasizes the importance” of unhindered humanitarian aid in the territory, including through the UN, the ICRC, and the humanitarian organizations.

Nonetheless, it allows for the removal of “any group determined to have improperly used such aid”. The phrase leaves open the board of peace excluding Unrwa, the body that the global judicial body has said is the legal distributor of aid.

Global Political Initiatives

France and Saudi representatives are currently pressing for a reference to a sovereign Palestine to be included in the resolution. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the US presidential residence on the specified date, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has stated that a reference to a independent Palestine is a requirement.

The Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, met the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on Monday to discuss the authority's function.

Neither the UN nor the 15-member UNSC are given a oversight function over the stabilisation force, monitoring the implementation of the proposal, a point mostly overlooked by the proposed document. No details is outlined about the funding of this security operation, which, according to the Americans, should be mostly covered by regional nations, with Saudi Arabia taking the lead.

Israel's Requests and Local Developments

Israeli authorities is seeking written guarantees from the US that it be permitted to emulate the pattern of the Lebanese situation and retain the right to re-enter the territory if it believes demilitarization is not taking place at a level or pace it requires.

The Israeli proposal was presented to the former US advisor, the ex-president's relative, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in the Israeli capital on Monday to review developments on the ceasefire and the envoy was scheduled to arrive subsequently the same day.

Only the bodies of a small number of the original hundreds of Israeli hostages remain unreturned.

Independently, Israeli officials has been suggesting that the territory could still be divided in two with reconstruction work starting in the Israel occupied parts of the region. Western diplomats insist that this is no part of the former US administration's proposal.