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Plans for an multinational security mission mandated by the UN to demilitarize the militant group in Gaza are encountering increasing opposition after the UAE announced it will not take part due to the lack of a well-defined legal structure.

Growing Global Concerns

Israel have already ruled out Turkish participation, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has declared that his country's troops will not join. Azerbaijan, once mooted as a potential contributor, did not attend a preparatory meeting in Turkey and said it would not contribute unless a complete truce was established.

The UAE lacks clarity on a defined structure for the stabilisation force and in this situation declines involvement, but backs all political initiatives towards resolution – and remain at the forefront of humanitarian aid.

Arab Doubts and Legal Concerns

The Emirati decision, made by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in the UAE capital, highlights regional doubts about the terms of a American-proposed resolution previously circulated to delegates at the UN in New York. The draft assigns responsibility on a US-directed stabilisation force to be the principal means of ensuring security in Gaza after Israel have left the territory.

Arab states would like greater responsibilities to be assigned to a distinct local civilian police force. International law would also forbid external forces from entering contested Palestinian territories unless there was clear Palestinian consent; otherwise, the force could be seen as imposed under international statutes, and arguably stabilising an unlawful Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Perspectives and Appeals for Clarity

Jamal Nusseibeh of the ceasefire proposal said: “It is critical that the mission be deployed not to reinforce the unlawful presence, but to enforce global standards and terminate it. The mission will succeed as long as it enters the whole occupied territory, including the occupied territories, at the request of the Palestinian authorities, and has a clear objective to conclude the occupation within the framework of a sovereign Palestinian state.”

The draft contains no reference to the occupied territories in the American proposal, or to a Palestinian state, or a peaceful resolution, a outcome that Israel rejects.

Continuing Discussions and Possible Dangers

Detailed negotiations on the stabilisation force authority, including its command and control, began officially on last week in New York, and look likely to be lengthy – risking the development of a power gap in Gaza that may empower militant factions.

The US is suggesting that it command the mission although it will not have a large number of personnel deployed on the terrain. It has previously effectively assumed command of the distribution of humanitarian aid into Gaza from a recently established civil military coordination centre based in the neighboring country.

Force Mandate and Governance Function

The proposed American document defines the aim of the security mission as “together with the recently prepared and vetted law enforcement to assist in protecting border areas, secure the safety situation in the region by guaranteeing the procedure of demilitarising the territory including the elimination and blocking of rebuilding the militant and hostile facilities as well as the permanent decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups”.

The mission, reporting to a “board of peace” chaired by the former US president, and not to the UN, would be mandated to use “any required actions” to achieve its goals.

Regional powers 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, likely in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the militant viewpoint, marks the end of occupation.

They also worry the draft mandate extends to granting the stabilisation force a administrative role in the territory, a task that was to be reserved for a Palestinian technocratic committee working in cooperation with a restructured Palestinian Authority.

Humanitarian Considerations and Funding Questions

This “transitional governance administration” in the strip would stay until “the local government has adequately completed its reform program, the approval of which shall be acceptable to the board of peace”, the draft says. It also “emphasizes the importance” of unhindered 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 removal of “any group determined to have improperly used such assistance”. The wording leaves open the council barring the UN relief agency, the organization that the global judicial body has ruled is the lawful provider of aid.

International Diplomatic Initiatives

French officials and Saudi Arabia are already advocating for a mention to a sovereign Palestine to be added in the resolution. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the White House on 18 November, and Manal Radwan has said that a mention 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 review the PA role.

Neither the United Nations nor the 15-member UNSC are assigned a oversight role over the stabilisation force, monitoring the implementation of the proposal, a aspect mostly overlooked by the proposed document. Nothing is specified about the funding of this stabilisation mission, which, as per the US officials, should be largely borne by Gulf states, with Saudi Arabia taking the lead.

Israeli Demands and Local Developments

Israeli authorities is requesting written guarantees from the US that it be allowed to follow the pattern of Lebanon and reserve the right to return to Gaza if it believes disarmament is not occurring at a level or pace it requires.

The Israeli proposal was presented to the former US advisor, the ex-president's son-in-law, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in the Israeli capital on Monday to review progress on the truce and Witkoff was scheduled to appear subsequently the same day.

Only the remains of a small number of the original hundreds of Israeli hostages are still not recovered.

Separately, Israeli officials has been suggesting that the territory could still be split in two parts with rebuilding efforts starting in the Israeli-controlled areas of the region. Western diplomats insist that this is not part of the Trump plan.