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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 facing increasing opposition after the UAE stated it will not join due to the lack of a well-defined legal structure.

Growing Global Concerns

Israeli authorities have already excluded Turkey involvement, and Jordan's King Abdullah has stated that Jordanian forces will not join. The Azerbaijani government, previously considered as a potential participant, did not attend a preparatory meeting in Turkey and said it would not contribute unless a complete ceasefire was in place.

Emirati officials does not yet see a clear framework for the stabilisation mission and under such circumstances will not participate, but will support all political efforts towards resolution – and remain at the forefront of humanitarian aid.

Regional Skepticism and Juridical Concerns

The UAE's announcement, delivered by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in the UAE capital, reflects regional reservations about the terms of a American-proposed document previously circulated to diplomats at the UN in New York. The proposal assigns responsibility on a US-directed stabilisation force to be the primary means of imposing security in Gaza after Israeli forces have withdrawn from the region.

Regional governments would prefer expanded responsibilities to be given to a distinct local civilian police force. International law would also prohibit external forces from entering occupied Palestinian territories unless there was clear Palestinian consent; otherwise, the mission could be seen as imposed under international statutes, and potentially stabilising an illegal Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Viewpoints and Appeals for Definition

Jamal Nusseibeh of the Palestinian armistice plan commented: “It is critical that the force be sent not to stabilise the illegal Israeli occupation, but to enforce global standards and end it. The force will succeed as long as it enters the whole occupied territory, including the occupied territories, at the invitation of Palestine, and has a defined objective to end the presence within the framework of a sovereign Palestinian state.”

The draft contains no reference to the occupied territories in the US draft resolution, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a two-state solution, a prospect that Israel rejects.

Ongoing Discussions and Potential Dangers

Detailed negotiations on the stabilisation force mandate, including its leadership structure, started officially on Thursday in the UN headquarters, and look likely to be lengthy – potentially creating the emergence of a power gap in Gaza that may empower Hamas.

The US is proposing that it lead the mission although it will not have many personnel involved on the ground. It has previously in effect assumed command of the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza from a recently established civil military coordination centre based in Israel.

Mission Mandate and Administrative Role

The proposed American document outlines the purpose of the stabilisation force as “along with the recently prepared and vetted police force to help secure frontier zones, stabilise the security environment in Gaza by ensuring the process of disarming the Gaza Strip including the elimination and prevention of rebuilding the military terror and hostile facilities as well as the permanent decommissioning of arms from militant factions”.

The force, reporting to a “board of peace” led by Donald Trump, and not to the UN, would be mandated to use “all necessary measures” to achieve its objectives.

Arab states including Qatar are also worried that this authority is overly broad, and if Hamas is to disarm, the faction will solely do so to fellow Palestinians, probably in the local law enforcement, at a time that, from the Hamas viewpoint, marks the end of Israeli presence.

They also worry the proposed authority extends to giving the stabilisation force a governance function in Gaza, a task that was to be set aside for a Palestinian technocratic committee working in conjunction with a restructured local government.

Aid Considerations and Funding Issues

This “interim authority” in the strip would remain until “the local government has satisfactorily completed its restructuring plan, the approval of which shall be acceptable to the BoP”, the proposal says. It also “emphasizes the importance” of unhindered relief in Gaza, including through the United Nations, the ICRC, and the humanitarian organizations.

Nonetheless, it opens the door the removal of “any organisation found to have improperly used such aid”. The wording leaves open the board of peace barring the UN relief agency, the organization that the international court of justice has said is the legal provider of assistance.

Global Diplomatic Initiatives

French officials and Saudi Arabia are already pressing for a reference to a sovereign Palestine to be added in the resolution. The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the White House on 18 November, and Manal Radwan has said that a mention to a independent Palestine is a requirement.

The Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, met the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on Monday to discuss the authority's function.

Neither the UN nor the 15-member security council are assigned a supervisory role over the mission, supervising the execution of the resolution, a aspect mostly overlooked 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 taking the lead.

Israel's Demands and Local Situations

Israeli authorities is seeking formal assurances from the US that it be allowed to follow the model of the Lebanese situation and reserve the authority to re-enter Gaza if it considers demilitarization is not taking place at a scale or speed it demands.

The Israeli proposal was put to the former US advisor, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in the Israeli capital on this week to discuss developments on the ceasefire and Witkoff was scheduled to arrive subsequently the that day.

Just the bodies of a small number of the initial 251 Israeli hostages are still not recovered.

Independently, Israeli officials has been proposing that the territory could still be divided in two with reconstruction work beginning in the Israel occupied parts of the region. Western diplomats insist that this is no part of the Trump plan.