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

Growing International Reservations

Israel have previously ruled out Turkish involvement, and Jordan's King Abdullah has stated that his country's forces will not join. Azerbaijan, once considered as a possible participant, did not attend a planning meeting in Turkey and said it would not contribute unless a complete truce was established.

Emirati officials does not yet see a defined structure for the stability force and under such circumstances will not participate, but backs all diplomatic efforts towards resolution – and stay at the forefront of relief efforts.

Arab Doubts and Legal Concerns

The UAE's announcement, made by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in the UAE capital, reflects Arab doubts about the terms of a American-proposed 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 principal means of ensuring order in Gaza after Israel have left the territory.

Regional governments would prefer expanded responsibilities to be assigned to a separate Palestinian law enforcement agency. Global jurisprudence would also forbid external forces from deploying into occupied Palestine unless there was explicit local approval; without it, the mission could be viewed as imposed under international statutes, and arguably stabilising an illegal Israeli occupation.

Local Perspectives and Calls for Clarity

A Palestinian American co-author of the ceasefire proposal said: “It is critical that the force be deployed not to stabilise the unlawful Israeli occupation, but to uphold international law and terminate it. The force will succeed as long as it operates in the whole occupied territory, including the occupied territories, at the invitation of Palestine, and has a defined goal to conclude the occupation within the context of a sovereign Palestinian state.”

There is no reference to the occupied territories in the US draft resolution, or to a Palestinian state, or a two-state solution, a prospect that Israel opposes.

Ongoing Discussions and Potential Dangers

In-depth negotiations on the mission mandate, including its command and control, began officially on Thursday in the UN headquarters, and look likely to be lengthy – risking the emergence of a power gap in the strip that may empower Hamas.

The US is proposing that it command the mission although it will not have many personnel deployed on the terrain. It has previously effectively taken control of the distribution of relief supplies into Gaza from a recently established civil military coordination centre based in the neighboring country.

Force 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 border areas, secure the safety situation in Gaza by ensuring the process of demilitarising the territory including the destruction and blocking of reconstructing the militant and hostile facilities as well as the lasting decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups”.

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

Regional powers including Qatar are also worried that this mandate is too expansive, and if Hamas is to lay down arms, the group will only do so to local counterparts, likely in the civilian police force, at a moment that, from the militant viewpoint, signifies the conclusion of Israeli presence.

They also worry the proposed authority spills into giving the stabilisation force a governance function in the territory, a responsibility that was to be set aside for a Palestinian expert panel working in conjunction with a reformed local government.

Humanitarian Considerations and Funding Questions

This “interim authority” in Gaza would remain until “the local government has adequately completed its reform program, the approval of which shall be acceptable to the BoP”, the proposal states. It also “underscores the significance” of full relief 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 group determined to have improperly used such assistance”. The phrase permits the council excluding Unrwa, the organization that the international court of justice has said is the legal provider of assistance.

International Political Initiatives

French officials and Saudi representatives are currently advocating for a reference to a sovereign Palestine to be included in the document. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the US presidential residence on the specified date, and Manal Radwan has said that a reference 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 discuss the authority's function.

Neither the UN nor the 15 strong security council are given a oversight function over the mission, supervising the execution of the resolution, a aspect mostly overlooked by the proposed document. Nothing is outlined about the financing of this stabilisation mission, which, according to the Americans, should be mostly covered by regional nations, with Saudi Arabia taking the lead.

Israeli Requests and Regional Situations

Israel is seeking written guarantees from the United States that it be permitted to emulate the model of the Lebanese situation and retain the authority to re-enter the territory if it considers disarmament is not taking place at a scale or speed it demands.

The Israeli proposal was presented to Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s relative, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in the Israeli capital on this week to review progress on the ceasefire and Witkoff was due to arrive subsequently the same day.

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

Independently, Israel has been proposing that the territory could still be divided in two parts with rebuilding efforts beginning in the Israel occupied parts of the region. Western diplomats insist that this is no part of the former US administration's proposal.