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Plans for an international security mission authorized by the UN to demilitarize the militant group in the Gaza Strip are encountering growing opposition after the United Arab Emirates stated it will not take part due to the lack of a clear legal structure.

Increasing Global Reservations

Israel have previously ruled out Turkish participation, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has stated that his country's troops will not join. Azerbaijan, previously mooted as a potential contributor, was absent from a planning meeting in Istanbul and indicated it would not contribute unless a full truce was in place.

Emirati officials does not yet see a defined structure for the stability mission and in this situation will not participate, but backs all political efforts towards peace – and stay at the vanguard of relief efforts.

Arab Doubts and Juridical Issues

The UAE's decision, made by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in the UAE capital, highlights Arab reservations about the provisions of a US-drafted document already distributed to delegates at the UN in NYC. The proposal places an onus on a American-led security mission to be the principal means of imposing order in Gaza after Israeli forces have withdrawn from the territory.

Regional governments would like expanded responsibilities to be given to a distinct Palestinian civilian police force. Global jurisprudence would also prohibit external forces from entering occupied Palestine unless there was explicit local approval; otherwise, the mission could be seen as coercive under international statutes, and potentially stabilising an illegal Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Perspectives and Appeals for Definition

A Palestinian American co-author of the Palestinian armistice plan commented: “It is essential that the force be deployed not to stabilise the illegal presence, but to uphold international law and terminate it. The mission will succeed as long as it enters the whole disputed land, including the West Bank, at the invitation of Palestine, and has a clear objective to conclude the occupation within the context of a sovereign Palestinian state.”

The draft contains no mention to the occupied territories in the US draft resolution, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a peaceful resolution, a prospect that Israel opposes.

Continuing Discussions and Potential Risks

Detailed talks on the mission authority, including its command and control, started formally on last week in New York, and appear to be protracted – risking the emergence of a vacuum in the strip that may empower militant factions.

The US is suggesting that it command the force although it will not have many personnel deployed on the terrain. It has already effectively taken control of the distribution of humanitarian aid into the territory from a recently established civil military coordination centre based in the neighboring country.

Mission Objectives and Governance Role

The draft US resolution defines the aim of the security mission as “together with the recently prepared and screened police force to help secure border areas, stabilise the safety situation in the region by guaranteeing the process of disarming the territory including the elimination and blocking of rebuilding the military terror and hostile facilities as well as the lasting removal of arms from militant factions”.

The force, reporting to a “board of peace” led by Donald Trump, and not to the United Nations, would be mandated to use “all necessary measures” to fulfill its goals.

Arab states including Qatari officials are also concerned that this mandate is overly broad, and if the group is to disarm, the group will solely do so to local counterparts, likely in the civilian police force, at a time that, from the Hamas viewpoint, marks the end of occupation.

They also fear the draft mandate spills into granting the stabilisation force a administrative role in Gaza, a task that was to be reserved for a local expert panel working in conjunction with a restructured local government.

Aid Aspects and Financial Issues

This “transitional governance administration” in Gaza would remain until “the local government has satisfactorily completed its restructuring plan, the satisfaction of which shall be approved to the board of peace”, the proposal states. It also “underscores the importance” of unhindered relief in Gaza, including through the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the humanitarian organizations.

Nonetheless, it allows for the exclusion of “any group found to have misused such aid”. The phrase leaves open the council excluding Unrwa, the body that the international court of justice has said is the legal provider of aid.

Global Political Efforts

French officials and Saudi representatives are already pressing for a mention to a sovereign Palestine to be added in the document. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the US presidential residence on 18 November, and Manal Radwan has stated that a mention to a Palestinian state is a prerequisite.

The PA chair, Mahmoud Abbas, met the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on this week to discuss the authority's function.

Neither the UN nor the 15 strong security council are assigned a supervisory role over the stabilisation force, monitoring the implementation of the resolution, a aspect mostly overlooked by the draft text. No details is outlined about the financing of this security operation, which, as per the US officials, should be largely covered by regional nations, with Saudi Arabia taking the lead.

Israel's Requests and Regional Developments

Israeli authorities is seeking written guarantees from the United States that it be allowed to emulate the pattern of Lebanon and reserve the right to return to Gaza if it considers disarmament is not occurring at a level or pace it demands.

The request was presented to Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s relative, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in Jerusalem on this week to review progress on the truce and the envoy was due to appear subsequently the same day.

Just the bodies of four of the original hundreds of Israeli hostages remain unreturned.

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