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Proposals for an multinational security mission authorized by the United Nations to demilitarize Hamas in Gaza are encountering growing opposition after the UAE stated it would not take part due to the absence of a well-defined legal structure.

Increasing International Concerns

Israeli authorities have previously excluded Turkish involvement, and Jordan's King Abdullah has declared that Jordanian troops will not join. Azerbaijan, previously considered as a possible participant, was absent from a planning meeting in Turkey and said it would not take part unless a complete ceasefire was in place.

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

Regional Doubts and Juridical Concerns

The Emirati decision, made by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in Abu Dhabi, reflects Arab reservations about the terms of a US-drafted document previously circulated to diplomats at the UN in NYC. The draft assigns responsibility on a US-directed stabilisation force to be the primary means of imposing security in Gaza after Israel have withdrawn from the region.

Arab states would prefer expanded responsibilities to be assigned to a separate Palestinian law enforcement agency. International law would also forbid external forces from entering contested Palestinian territories unless there was clear local approval; otherwise, the mission could be seen as coercive under international statutes, and arguably reinforcing an illegal Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Perspectives and Appeals for Clarity

Jamal Nusseibeh of the ceasefire proposal said: “It is critical that the mission be sent not to stabilise the unlawful Israeli occupation, but to uphold global standards and terminate it. The force will work as long as it enters the entire occupied territory, including the West Bank, at the invitation of Palestine, and has a defined objective to conclude the occupation within the context of a independent state of Palestine.”

The draft contains no reference to the occupied territories in the US draft resolution, or to a Palestinian state, or a peaceful resolution, a outcome that Israeli leadership rejects.

Continuing Negotiations and Possible Dangers

Detailed talks on the mission mandate, including its leadership structure, started formally on Thursday in the UN headquarters, and appear to be lengthy – potentially creating the development of a vacuum in Gaza that may strengthen Hamas.

The United States is suggesting that it lead the force although it will not have a large number of troops deployed on the terrain. It has previously in effect assumed command of the distribution of relief supplies into the territory from a recently established logistical hub based in the neighboring country.

Force Mandate and Administrative Role

The draft American document defines the aim of the security mission as “along with the newly trained and screened police force to assist in protecting frontier zones, stabilise the security environment in the region by guaranteeing the process of disarming the Gaza Strip including the destruction and blocking of rebuilding the militant and hostile facilities as well as the lasting decommissioning of arms from militant factions”.

The force, answerable to a “peace council” led by Donald Trump, and not to the United Nations, would be mandated to use “all necessary measures” to achieve its objectives.

Regional powers including Qatar are also concerned that this mandate is overly broad, and if Hamas is to disarm, the group will solely do so to fellow Palestinians, probably in the local law enforcement, at a time that, from the Hamas perspective, signifies the end of Israeli presence.

They also worry the draft mandate spills into giving the stabilisation force a administrative function in the territory, a responsibility that was to be set aside 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 Palestinian Authority has satisfactorily finished its reform program, the satisfaction of which shall be acceptable to the board of peace”, the draft states. It also “underscores the significance” of unhindered relief in Gaza, including through the UN, the ICRC, and the Red Crescent.

Nonetheless, it opens the door the exclusion of “any group found to have improperly used such aid”. The phrase leaves open the board of peace barring Unrwa, the body that the global judicial body has ruled is the legal distributor of assistance.

International Diplomatic Efforts

French officials and Saudi Arabia are already pressing for a reference to a Palestinian state to be added in the document. The Saudi crown prince, 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 prerequisite.

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

Neither the United Nations nor the 15-member UNSC are assigned a oversight function over the stabilisation force, monitoring the implementation of the resolution, a point mostly ignored by the draft text. Nothing is specified about the financing of this stabilisation mission, which, as per the US officials, should be largely borne by Gulf states, with Saudi Arabia taking the lead.

Israel's Demands and Local Situations

Israel is seeking written guarantees 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 level or speed it demands.

The request was put to the former US advisor, the ex-president's son-in-law, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in the Israeli capital on Monday to review developments on the truce and the envoy was due to arrive subsequently the same day.

Just the remains of a small number of the initial hundreds of Israeli hostages are still unreturned.

Independently, Israel has been proposing that the Gaza Strip could yet be split in two with reconstruction work beginning in the Israel occupied parts of the region. International officials maintain that this is not part of the Trump plan.