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Proposals for an international security mission mandated by the United Nations to demilitarize the militant group in Gaza are encountering growing opposition after the UAE stated it will not take part due to the absence of a clear legal structure.

Increasing Global Reservations

Israel have already ruled out Turkey participation, and Jordan's King Abdullah has declared that Jordanian forces will not join. Azerbaijan, once 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 established.

Emirati officials does not yet see a clear framework for the stabilisation force and in this situation will not participate, but will support all political efforts towards peace – and stay at the vanguard of humanitarian aid.

Regional Skepticism and Legal Concerns

The Emirati decision, delivered by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in Abu Dhabi, reflects regional doubts 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on a US-directed stabilisation force to be the primary means of ensuring security in Gaza after Israeli forces have withdrawn from the region.

Regional governments would like greater duties to be assigned to a separate local civilian police force. Global jurisprudence would also forbid foreign troops from entering occupied Palestinian territories unless there was explicit Palestinian consent; otherwise, the mission could be viewed as coercive under UN law, and arguably stabilising an illegal presence.

Palestinian Viewpoints and Appeals for Definition

Jamal Nusseibeh of the Palestinian armistice plan commented: “It is essential that the mission be deployed not to reinforce the illegal Israeli occupation, but to enforce global standards and terminate it. The mission will succeed as long as it operates in the whole disputed land, including the occupied territories, at the invitation of Palestine, and has a clear goal to end the occupation within the context of a sovereign Palestinian state.”

There is no reference to the West Bank in the US draft resolution, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a peaceful resolution, a outcome that Israeli leadership opposes.

Continuing Discussions and Possible Dangers

In-depth negotiations on the stabilisation force authority, including its leadership structure, started officially on Thursday in the UN headquarters, and look likely to be lengthy – potentially creating the development of a vacuum in Gaza that may strengthen militant factions.

The US is suggesting that it command the mission although it will not have many troops deployed on the ground. It has already effectively assumed command of the distribution of relief supplies into Gaza from a recently established civil military coordination centre based in Israel.

Mission Mandate and Administrative Role

The draft US resolution outlines the aim of the security mission as “along with the recently prepared and vetted police force to help secure frontier zones, secure the security environment in Gaza by ensuring the procedure of demilitarising the territory including the destruction and blocking of reconstructing the military terror and hostile facilities as well as the lasting decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups”.

The force, reporting to a “peace council” led by Donald Trump, and not to the UN, would be required to use “all necessary measures” to fulfill its objectives.

Arab states including Qatari officials are also worried that this mandate is too expansive, and if the group is to disarm, the faction will only do so to fellow Palestinians, likely in the civilian police force, at a time that, from the Hamas perspective, signifies the end of Israeli presence.

They also fear the draft mandate spills into granting the mission a governance function in the territory, a task that was to be reserved for a local expert panel working in conjunction with a restructured Palestinian Authority.

Aid Aspects and Financial Issues

This “transitional governance administration” in the strip would stay until “the local government has adequately finished its restructuring plan, the satisfaction of which shall be acceptable to the board of peace”, the proposal states. It also “emphasizes the importance” of full humanitarian aid in the territory, including through the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the humanitarian organizations.

However, it allows for the removal of “any organisation found to have improperly used such aid”. The wording permits the board of peace barring the UN relief agency, the body that the global judicial body has ruled is the legal provider of assistance.

International Diplomatic Initiatives

France and Saudi Arabia are already pressing for a reference to a Palestinian state to be added in the resolution. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the White House on the specified date, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has said that a reference to a independent Palestine is a prerequisite.

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

Not the United Nations nor the 15 strong security council are assigned a oversight function over the mission, supervising the execution of the resolution, a point mostly overlooked by the proposed document. Nothing is outlined about the financing of this security operation, which, according to the Americans, should be largely borne by regional nations, with Saudi Arabia assuming primary responsibility.

Israeli Requests and Regional Developments

Israel is seeking written guarantees from the US that it be allowed to follow the model of Lebanon and retain the authority to return to Gaza if it considers disarmament is not occurring at a scale or speed it requires.

The Israeli proposal was presented to the former US advisor, the ex-president'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 ceasefire and the envoy was due to appear subsequently the that day.

Only the remains of a small number of the initial 251 Israeli hostages remain unreturned.

Independently, Israel has been suggesting that the territory could still be split in two with reconstruction work beginning in the Israel occupied areas of the region. Western diplomats insist that this is no part of the former US administration's proposal.