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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 resistance after the UAE stated it will not join due to the lack of a clear legal framework.

Increasing International Reservations

Israeli authorities have previously excluded Turkish involvement, and Jordan's King Abdullah has declared that his country's forces will not join. The Azerbaijani government, once mooted as a possible participant, did not attend a preparatory session in Turkey and indicated it would not take part unless a complete truce was in place.

Emirati officials lacks clarity on a defined structure for the stabilisation force and under such circumstances declines involvement, but backs all diplomatic efforts towards peace – and remain at the vanguard of relief efforts.

Arab Skepticism and Legal Concerns

The Emirati announcement, made by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in Abu Dhabi, reflects regional reservations about the provisions of a US-drafted document previously distributed to diplomats at the UN in NYC. The draft places an onus on a American-led security mission to be the primary means of ensuring security in Gaza after Israel have withdrawn from the region.

Arab states would prefer expanded responsibilities to be given to a separate local law enforcement agency. International law would also forbid foreign troops from entering occupied Palestinian territories unless there was clear local approval; without it, the mission could be seen as coercive under UN law, and potentially stabilising an unlawful Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Viewpoints and Calls for Definition

A Palestinian American co-author of the Palestinian armistice plan commented: “It is essential that the mission be deployed not to stabilise the unlawful presence, but to uphold global standards and terminate it. The force will work as long as it operates in the whole occupied territory, including the occupied territories, at the request of Palestine, and has a defined goal to end the occupation within the context of a sovereign Palestinian state.”

The draft contains no reference to the West Bank in the US draft resolution, or to a Palestinian state, or a two-state solution, a outcome that Israeli leadership opposes.

Continuing Negotiations and Potential Dangers

Detailed talks on the stabilisation force mandate, including its command and control, started formally on Thursday in New York, and look likely to be protracted – potentially creating the development of a vacuum in Gaza that may strengthen Hamas.

The US is proposing that it lead the force although it will not have many troops deployed on the terrain. It has already effectively taken control of the distribution of relief supplies into Gaza from a new civil military coordination centre based in the neighboring country.

Mission Objectives and Governance Role

The draft American document outlines the purpose of the stabilisation force as “along with the recently prepared and vetted law enforcement to help secure border areas, stabilise the security environment in the region by ensuring the procedure of disarming the Gaza Strip including the elimination and blocking of rebuilding the militant and hostile facilities as well as the permanent decommissioning of arms from non-state armed groups”.

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

Arab states including Qatari officials are also concerned that this mandate is overly broad, and if Hamas is to lay down arms, the faction will solely do so to local counterparts, probably in the civilian police force, at a time that, from the militant viewpoint, marks the end of Israeli presence.

They also worry the draft mandate spills into giving the stabilisation force a administrative function in the territory, a task that was to be set aside for a Palestinian technocratic committee working in conjunction with a restructured local government.

Aid Aspects and Funding Issues

This “transitional governance administration” in the strip would remain until “the local government has satisfactorily finished its reform program, the approval of which shall be acceptable to the BoP”, the proposal says. It also “emphasizes the significance” of full relief in the territory, including through the United Nations, the ICRC, and the Red Crescent.

Nonetheless, it allows for the exclusion of “any organisation found to have misused such assistance”. The phrase permits the council barring the UN relief agency, the organization that the international court of justice has said is the lawful provider of aid.

Global Political Efforts

France and Saudi representatives are already pressing for a reference to a sovereign Palestine to be added in the document. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the US presidential residence on the specified date, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has said that a mention to a Palestinian state is a prerequisite.

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

Neither the United Nations nor the 15-member security council are given a supervisory function over the stabilisation force, monitoring the implementation of the proposal, a point largely ignored by the proposed document. No details is outlined about the financing of this stabilisation mission, which, as per the US officials, should be mostly borne by regional nations, with the Kingdom assuming primary responsibility.

Israeli Demands and Local Developments

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

The request was put to Jared Kushner, the ex-president's son-in-law, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in Jerusalem on this week to discuss developments on the ceasefire and the envoy was due to appear later the same day.

Just the bodies of a small number of the original hundreds of captives remain unreturned.

Independently, Israel has been proposing that the territory could still be split in two with rebuilding efforts starting in the Israeli-controlled areas of the region. Western diplomats maintain that this is not part of the former US administration's proposal.