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Plans for an international security mission mandated by the United Nations to demilitarize Hamas in Gaza are facing increasing opposition after the UAE announced it will not join due to the absence of a clear legal framework.

Growing Global Reservations

Israeli authorities have previously excluded Turkish involvement, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has stated that Jordanian troops will not join. Azerbaijan, previously mooted as a possible contributor, did not attend a preparatory session in Istanbul and indicated it would not take part unless a full ceasefire was established.

Emirati officials lacks clarity on a clear structure for the stability force and under such circumstances will not participate, but backs all political initiatives towards peace – and remain at the forefront of relief efforts.

Regional Skepticism and Legal Issues

The Emirati announcement, delivered by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in Abu Dhabi, highlights Arab doubts about the terms of a US-drafted resolution already distributed to delegates at the UN in New York. The draft assigns responsibility on a American-led security mission to be the primary means of ensuring order in Gaza after Israel have left the territory.

Arab states would prefer greater duties to be given to a distinct Palestinian law enforcement agency. International law would also prohibit foreign troops from entering contested Palestine unless there was clear Palestinian consent; without it, the mission could be viewed as coercive under UN law, and arguably stabilising an unlawful presence.

Local Perspectives and Appeals for Clarity

Jamal Nusseibeh of the Palestinian armistice plan commented: “It is critical that the mission be deployed not to reinforce the unlawful presence, but to uphold international law and end it. The mission will succeed as long as it operates in the whole disputed land, including the occupied territories, at the request of Palestine, and has a clear goal to end the occupation within the framework of a sovereign state of Palestine.”

The draft contains no mention to the occupied territories in the American proposal, or to a Palestinian state, or a two-state solution, a outcome that Israel opposes.

Ongoing Negotiations and Possible Risks

Detailed talks on the stabilisation force mandate, including its leadership structure, began formally on Thursday in New York, and look likely to be lengthy – potentially creating the emergence of a vacuum in Gaza that may strengthen Hamas.

The US is proposing that it command the mission although it will not have a large number of troops deployed on the terrain. It has previously effectively assumed command of the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza from a new logistical hub based in the neighboring country.

Force Objectives and Governance Role

The proposed US resolution defines the purpose of the stabilisation force as “along with the recently prepared and screened police force to help secure frontier zones, stabilise the safety situation in Gaza by guaranteeing the procedure of disarming the Gaza Strip including the destruction and prevention of rebuilding the military terror and hostile facilities as well as the lasting removal of arms from militant factions”.

The mission, reporting to a “peace council” chaired by the former US president, and not to the United Nations, would be mandated to use “all necessary measures” to achieve its goals.

Arab states including Qatar are also worried that this mandate is overly broad, and if Hamas is to lay down arms, the group will solely do so to local counterparts, probably in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the militant perspective, signifies the end of Israeli presence.

They also fear the proposed authority spills into giving the mission a governance function in the territory, a task that was to be set aside for a local expert panel working in conjunction with a restructured Palestinian Authority.

Aid Considerations and Financial Questions

This “interim authority” in the strip would remain until “the local government has satisfactorily completed its restructuring plan, the satisfaction of which shall be acceptable to the board of peace”, the draft states. It also “underscores the importance” of unhindered relief in Gaza, including through the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Red Crescent.

Nonetheless, it allows for the exclusion of “any group determined to have improperly used such aid”. The phrase leaves open the council barring the UN relief agency, the body that the global judicial body has said is the legal distributor of aid.

Global Diplomatic Efforts

French officials and Saudi Arabia are already pressing for a reference to a Palestinian state to be added in the resolution. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the White House on 18 November, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has said that a reference to a Palestinian state is a prerequisite.

The PA chair, Mahmoud Abbas, met the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on Monday to review the authority's function.

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

Israel's Demands and Local Situations

Israeli authorities is seeking written guarantees from the US that it be allowed to follow the model of Lebanon and reserve the authority to return to the territory if it believes demilitarization is not taking place at a level or speed it requires.

The request was presented to the former US advisor, the ex-president's relative, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in Jerusalem on this week to review progress on the ceasefire and the envoy was due to appear subsequently the that day.

Only the remains of a small number of the initial hundreds of captives are still unreturned.

Independently, Israeli officials has been proposing that the territory could still be split in two parts with rebuilding efforts beginning in the Israel occupied areas of the region. International officials maintain that this is no part of the former US administration's proposal.