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Proposals for an international security mission authorized by the United Nations to demilitarize Hamas in Gaza are encountering increasing resistance after the UAE announced it would not join due to the lack of a well-defined legal structure.

Growing Global Reservations

Israel have already excluded Turkey participation, and Jordan's King Abdullah has declared that Jordanian troops will not participate. The Azerbaijani government, previously mooted as a possible participant, did not attend a planning meeting in Turkey and indicated it would not contribute unless a complete truce was established.

Emirati officials lacks clarity on a defined framework for the stability mission and under such circumstances will not participate, but will support all diplomatic initiatives towards resolution – and remain at the forefront of humanitarian aid.

Arab Doubts and Legal Issues

The UAE's announcement, made by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in the UAE capital, highlights regional reservations about the provisions of a US-drafted document previously distributed to delegates at the UN in New York. The proposal places an onus on a American-led stabilisation force to be the primary means of ensuring order in the territory after Israel have withdrawn from the region.

Arab states would prefer greater responsibilities to be assigned to a separate Palestinian law enforcement agency. Global jurisprudence would also forbid external forces from entering contested Palestine unless there was explicit local approval; without it, the force could be seen as coercive under UN law, and potentially reinforcing an unlawful presence.

Palestinian Viewpoints and Calls for Clarity

A Palestinian American co-author of the Palestinian armistice plan commented: “It is essential that the force be deployed not to reinforce the illegal Israeli occupation, but to enforce international law and end it. The mission will succeed as long as it operates in the whole occupied territory, including the occupied territories, at the invitation of Palestine, and has a clear goal to conclude the presence within the context of a independent Palestinian state.”

The draft contains no reference to the West Bank in the US draft resolution, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a two-state solution, a prospect that Israeli leadership rejects.

Continuing Discussions and Potential Risks

In-depth negotiations on the mission mandate, including its leadership structure, started officially on Thursday in New York, and look likely to be protracted – risking the development of a vacuum in the strip that may empower militant factions.

The United States is proposing that it lead the force although it will not have a large number of personnel deployed on the terrain. It has previously in effect taken control of the distribution of relief supplies into the territory from a recently established civil military coordination centre based in Israel.

Mission Objectives and Governance Role

The proposed US resolution defines the purpose of the stabilisation force as “together with the newly trained and screened police force to assist in protecting frontier zones, secure the safety situation in Gaza by ensuring the process of demilitarising the Gaza Strip including the elimination and blocking of reconstructing the military terror and offensive infrastructure as well as the permanent removal of arms from militant factions”.

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

Regional powers including Qatar are also worried that this authority is too expansive, and if the group is to disarm, the faction will only do so to fellow Palestinians, probably in the local law enforcement, at a time that, from the militant perspective, marks the conclusion of Israeli presence.

They also worry the proposed authority spills into giving the mission a administrative function in Gaza, a responsibility that was to be reserved for a local expert panel working in cooperation with a restructured Palestinian Authority.

Aid Considerations and Financial Issues

This “transitional governance administration” in the strip would remain until “the local government has satisfactorily completed its restructuring plan, the approval of which shall be approved to the board of peace”, the proposal states. It also “emphasizes the significance” of full relief in Gaza, including through the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Red Crescent.

Nonetheless, it allows for the removal of “any group found to have misused such aid”. The wording leaves open the board of peace barring Unrwa, the organization that the international court of justice has said is the lawful distributor of assistance.

Global Political Initiatives

French officials and Saudi Arabia are currently advocating for a reference to a sovereign Palestine to be included in the resolution. The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the White House on 18 November, and Manal Radwan has stated that a reference to a Palestinian state is a requirement.

The Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, held talks with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on this week to discuss the authority's function.

Not the UN nor the 15-member security council are given a oversight function over the stabilisation force, supervising the implementation of the resolution, a aspect largely overlooked by the proposed document. No details is outlined about the funding of this security operation, which, according to the US officials, should be mostly covered by Gulf states, with the Kingdom assuming primary responsibility.

Israeli Requests and Local Developments

Israel is requesting formal assurances from the United States that it be permitted to follow the model of the Lebanese situation and reserve the right to re-enter Gaza if it considers demilitarization is not occurring at a scale or speed it requires.

The request was presented to the former US advisor, the ex-president's son-in-law, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in Jerusalem on Monday to discuss developments on the ceasefire and Witkoff was due to arrive later the that day.

Just the remains of four of the initial hundreds of Israeli hostages remain unreturned.

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