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Plans for an multinational stabilisation force authorized by the UN to disarm the militant group in the Gaza Strip are facing growing resistance after the United Arab Emirates announced it will not join due to the absence of a well-defined legal structure.

Growing International Reservations

Israeli authorities have previously excluded Turkey participation, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has declared that Jordanian troops will not join. Azerbaijan, once mooted as a possible participant, was absent from a preparatory meeting in Turkey and indicated it would not take part unless a full truce was established.

The UAE lacks clarity on a defined framework for the stability mission and in this situation declines involvement, but backs all political efforts towards resolution – and remain at the forefront of relief efforts.

Arab Skepticism and Juridical Concerns

The Emirati decision, delivered by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in the UAE capital, reflects Arab doubts about the terms of a American-proposed document already circulated to diplomats at the UN in New York. The draft assigns responsibility on a American-led security mission to be the primary means of imposing order in the territory after Israel have left the territory.

Arab states would prefer greater responsibilities to be given to a distinct Palestinian civilian police force. International law would also forbid foreign troops from deploying into contested Palestine unless there was explicit Palestinian consent; otherwise, the force could be viewed as imposed under UN law, and potentially stabilising an unlawful presence.

Local Viewpoints and Appeals for Definition

A Palestinian American co-author of the ceasefire proposal commented: “It is essential that the force be deployed not to stabilise the unlawful presence, but to enforce global standards and terminate it. The mission will succeed as long as it enters the entire occupied territory, including the West Bank, at the invitation of the Palestinian authorities, and has a defined goal to conclude 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 prospect that Israel opposes.

Ongoing Discussions and Potential Dangers

In-depth talks on the mission mandate, including its command and control, started formally on last week in New York, and look likely to be protracted – risking the emergence of a power gap in Gaza that may strengthen militant factions.

The US is suggesting that it command the force although it will not have many personnel deployed on the terrain. It has already effectively assumed command of the delivery of relief supplies into Gaza from a new civil military coordination centre based in Israel.

Mission Mandate and Administrative Role

The proposed American document defines the aim of the stabilisation force as “together with the recently prepared and vetted police force to help secure frontier zones, secure the safety situation in the region by guaranteeing the process of disarming the territory including the destruction and blocking of reconstructing the military terror and offensive infrastructure as well as the lasting decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups”.

The mission, answerable to a “peace council” led by Donald Trump, and not to the United Nations, would be required to use “any required actions” to achieve its goals.

Regional powers including Qatari officials are also concerned that this authority is too expansive, and if Hamas is to disarm, the group will only do so to fellow Palestinians, probably in the civilian police force, at a moment that, from the Hamas perspective, marks the end of occupation.

They also fear the proposed authority extends to giving the mission a governance function in Gaza, a task that was to be set aside for a Palestinian technocratic committee working in conjunction with a reformed Palestinian Authority.

Aid Considerations and Funding Questions

This “interim authority” in Gaza would remain until “the Palestinian Authority has satisfactorily finished its restructuring plan, the satisfaction of which shall be acceptable to the BoP”, the proposal says. It also “emphasizes the significance” of unhindered humanitarian aid in Gaza, including through the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the humanitarian organizations.

Nonetheless, it opens the door the removal of “any organisation found to have misused such aid”. The wording permits the board of peace barring the UN relief agency, the body that the international court of justice has ruled is the lawful distributor of assistance.

Global Political Initiatives

French officials and Saudi Arabia are currently advocating for a mention to a Palestinian state to be added in the resolution. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the White House on the specified date, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has stated that a reference to a Palestinian state is a requirement.

The PA chair, Mahmoud Abbas, held talks with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on this week to discuss the PA role.

Not the UN nor the 15 strong UNSC are assigned a oversight role over the mission, monitoring the execution of the resolution, a aspect mostly ignored by the draft text. Nothing is specified about the financing of this security operation, which, as per the Americans, should be mostly borne by Gulf states, with the Kingdom taking the lead.

Israel's Requests and Regional Situations

Israeli authorities is seeking written guarantees from the United States that it be allowed to emulate the model of the Lebanese situation and reserve the right to return to the territory if it believes disarmament is not taking place at a scale or speed it demands.

The Israeli proposal was put to Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s relative, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in Jerusalem on this week to discuss progress on the truce and the envoy was due to arrive subsequently the same day.

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

Independently, Israel has been proposing that the territory could yet be split in two with rebuilding efforts beginning in the Israeli-controlled areas of the region. Western diplomats maintain that this is not part of the Trump plan.