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Plans for an international security mission mandated by the UN to disarm the militant group in Gaza are encountering increasing resistance after the United Arab Emirates announced it would not take part due to the absence of a well-defined legal structure.

Growing International Concerns

Israel have already excluded Turkish participation, and Jordan's King Abdullah has stated that his country's forces will not join. Azerbaijan, previously mooted as a possible contributor, was absent from a preparatory meeting in Istanbul and said it would not take part 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 backs all diplomatic efforts towards resolution – and remain at the forefront of humanitarian aid.

Regional Skepticism and Juridical Issues

The UAE's decision, made by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in Abu Dhabi, highlights Arab reservations about the terms of a US-drafted resolution already distributed to diplomats at the UN in New York. The proposal assigns responsibility on a US-directed stabilisation force to be the principal means of imposing order in the territory after Israeli forces have left the territory.

Regional governments would prefer greater duties to be assigned to a separate Palestinian civilian police force. Global jurisprudence would also prohibit external forces from deploying into occupied Palestinian territories unless there was explicit local approval; without it, the force could be viewed as coercive under UN law, and arguably reinforcing an unlawful presence.

Palestinian Perspectives and Calls for Clarity

Jamal Nusseibeh of the ceasefire proposal said: “It is essential that the mission be sent not to stabilise the illegal presence, but to enforce international law and terminate it. The mission will work as long as it operates in the whole occupied territory, including the West Bank, at the invitation of Palestine, and has a clear goal to conclude the occupation within the context of a independent state of Palestine.”

The draft contains no reference to the West Bank in the American proposal, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a peaceful resolution, a outcome that Israeli leadership opposes.

Ongoing Negotiations and Possible Risks

Detailed talks on the stabilisation force mandate, including its command and control, started formally on Thursday in the UN headquarters, and appear to be protracted – risking the development of a vacuum in the strip that may empower militant factions.

The United States is suggesting that it lead the force although it will not have a large number of personnel involved on the ground. It has already effectively taken control of the delivery of relief supplies into Gaza from a recently established civil military coordination centre based in the neighboring country.

Force Mandate and Governance Function

The draft American document outlines the purpose of the stabilisation force as “together with the newly trained and vetted police force to help secure frontier zones, secure the security environment in the region by guaranteeing the process of disarming the Gaza Strip including the elimination and prevention of reconstructing the military terror and hostile facilities as well as the lasting removal of weapons from non-state armed groups”.

The mission, reporting to a “peace council” led by Donald Trump, and not to the UN, would be mandated to use “any required actions” to achieve its objectives.

Regional powers including Qatar are also concerned that this authority is overly broad, and if the group is to lay down arms, the faction will only do so to local counterparts, probably in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the militant perspective, marks the conclusion of occupation.

They also fear the proposed authority extends to granting the mission a administrative function in Gaza, a responsibility that was to be reserved for a Palestinian expert panel working in conjunction with a reformed Palestinian Authority.

Aid Aspects and Financial Questions

This “interim authority” in Gaza would stay until “the local government has satisfactorily completed its reform program, the satisfaction of which shall be approved to the board of peace”, the proposal says. It also “underscores the importance” of full relief in the territory, including through the United Nations, the ICRC, and the Red Crescent.

Nonetheless, it allows for the exclusion of “any group found to have improperly used such assistance”. The phrase permits the council barring Unrwa, the body that the global judicial body has ruled is the lawful provider of aid.

International Political Efforts

France and Saudi representatives are already 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 US presidential residence 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 leader, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on this week to review the PA role.

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 draft text. Nothing is specified about the funding of this stabilisation mission, which, as per the Americans, should be largely covered by Gulf states, with Saudi Arabia taking the lead.

Israel's Demands and Regional Situations

Israel is seeking formal assurances from the United States that it be permitted to follow the pattern of the Lebanese situation and retain the right to re-enter the territory if it considers demilitarization is not occurring at a level or speed it demands.

The request was presented to Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in the Israeli capital on this week to review progress on the truce and Witkoff was scheduled to appear later the that day.

Just the bodies of a small number of the initial 251 Israeli hostages remain unreturned.

Independently, Israeli officials has been proposing that the Gaza Strip could yet be divided in two parts with rebuilding efforts starting in the Israeli-controlled areas of the region. Western diplomats insist that this is no part of the former US administration's proposal.