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Proposals for an international stabilisation force authorized by the United Nations to demilitarize Hamas in Gaza are facing growing opposition after the United Arab Emirates stated it would not join due to the lack of a well-defined legal structure.

Growing Global Reservations

Israeli authorities have already ruled out Turkey involvement, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has stated that Jordanian troops will not join. Azerbaijan, once considered as a possible contributor, did not attend a planning session in Istanbul and said it would not take part unless a full truce was in place.

Emirati officials does not yet see a clear structure for the stability mission and in this situation declines involvement, but will support all political efforts towards resolution – and remain at the vanguard of relief efforts.

Arab Skepticism and Legal Concerns

The Emirati decision, delivered by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in the UAE capital, highlights regional doubts about the provisions of a US-drafted document already circulated to delegates at the UN in New York. The proposal places an onus on a US-directed security mission to be the primary means of imposing order in Gaza after Israeli forces have withdrawn from the region.

Regional governments would like expanded responsibilities to be given to a distinct local civilian police force. Global jurisprudence would also prohibit external forces from entering contested Palestinian territories unless there was clear local approval; without it, the mission could be viewed as imposed under international statutes, and potentially reinforcing an unlawful presence.

Palestinian Viewpoints and Appeals for Clarity

Jamal Nusseibeh of the Palestinian armistice plan said: “It is essential that the mission be deployed not to stabilise the illegal Israeli occupation, but to uphold global standards and end it. The force will succeed as long as it operates in the whole disputed land, including the West Bank, at the request of the Palestinian authorities, and has a clear goal to conclude the presence within the framework of a sovereign state of Palestine.”

There is no mention to the occupied territories in the US draft resolution, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a two-state solution, a outcome that Israeli leadership rejects.

Continuing Negotiations and Potential Dangers

In-depth negotiations on the mission authority, including its leadership structure, started officially on last week in the UN headquarters, and look likely to be protracted – risking the emergence of a power gap in Gaza that may empower Hamas.

The US is proposing that it lead the force although it will not have many personnel involved on the ground. It has already in effect assumed command of the delivery of relief supplies into the territory from a recently established civil military coordination centre based in the neighboring country.

Mission Objectives and Governance Function

The draft US resolution outlines the purpose of the stabilisation force as “together with the recently prepared and vetted law enforcement to assist in protecting border areas, stabilise the security environment in Gaza by guaranteeing the procedure of demilitarising the territory including the elimination and prevention of rebuilding the military terror and hostile facilities as well as the permanent decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups”.

The force, reporting to a “board of peace” led by Donald Trump, and not to the United Nations, would be mandated to use “any required actions” to fulfill its objectives.

Arab states including Qatar are also concerned that this mandate is too expansive, and if the group is to disarm, the faction will solely do so to fellow Palestinians, probably in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the militant perspective, signifies the end of occupation.

They also fear the draft mandate spills into giving the mission a administrative role in the territory, a responsibility that was to be reserved for a Palestinian technocratic committee working in cooperation with a restructured local government.

Aid Aspects and Financial Questions

This “interim authority” in the strip would stay until “the Palestinian Authority has adequately finished its reform program, the satisfaction of which shall be approved to the board of peace”, the proposal says. It also “underscores the significance” of full relief in the territory, including through the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Red Crescent.

However, it allows for the exclusion of “any organisation found to have misused such assistance”. The phrase leaves open the board of peace barring the UN relief agency, the organization that the international court of justice has ruled is the lawful distributor of assistance.

International Political Initiatives

French officials and Saudi Arabia are already advocating for a reference to a Palestinian state to be added in the document. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the White House on 18 November, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has stated that a mention to a independent Palestine is a requirement.

The Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, held talks with the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on Monday to review the PA role.

Neither the United Nations nor the 15 strong security council are assigned a oversight function over the stabilisation force, supervising the execution of the proposal, a aspect mostly overlooked by the draft text. No details is specified about the financing of this security operation, which, according to the US officials, should be largely borne by regional nations, with the Kingdom taking the lead.

Israel's Demands and Regional Developments

Israel is requesting written guarantees from the United States that it be permitted to emulate the model of Lebanon and retain the right to return to the territory if it considers disarmament is not occurring at a level or speed it requires.

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 Jerusalem on Monday to discuss progress on the ceasefire and the envoy was due to appear later the same day.

Just the remains of four of the initial 251 Israeli hostages remain unreturned.

Independently, Israel has been suggesting that the Gaza Strip could still be split 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.