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Proposals for an multinational security mission mandated by the United Nations to demilitarize Hamas in the Gaza Strip are facing increasing resistance after the UAE announced it will not join due to the absence of a well-defined legal structure.

Increasing International Concerns

Israel have previously ruled out Turkey participation, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has stated that Jordanian forces will not join. Azerbaijan, once mooted as a possible participant, was absent from a preparatory meeting in Istanbul and said it would not contribute unless a complete truce was established.

The UAE does not yet see a clear framework for the stabilisation mission and under such circumstances declines involvement, but backs all political initiatives towards peace – and stay at the forefront of humanitarian aid.

Arab Doubts and Legal Issues

The UAE's announcement, delivered by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in the UAE capital, highlights regional doubts about the terms of a American-proposed document previously distributed to diplomats at the UN in New York. The proposal assigns responsibility on a American-led stabilisation force to be the primary means of imposing security in Gaza after Israel have withdrawn from the territory.

Regional governments would like expanded duties to be given to a distinct Palestinian law enforcement agency. Global jurisprudence would also prohibit foreign troops from deploying into contested Palestinian territories unless there was explicit local approval; otherwise, the mission could be seen as coercive under UN law, and potentially stabilising an unlawful presence.

Local Viewpoints 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 illegal Israeli occupation, but to uphold international law and terminate it. The force will work as long as it enters the entire occupied territory, including the occupied territories, at the invitation of the Palestinian authorities, and has a clear goal to conclude the presence within the framework of a independent state of Palestine.”

There is no mention to the occupied territories in the US draft resolution, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a peaceful resolution, a prospect that Israel rejects.

Ongoing Discussions and Potential Dangers

Detailed negotiations on the stabilisation force authority, including its leadership structure, began officially on Thursday in New York, and look likely to be lengthy – risking the emergence of a power gap in the strip that may empower Hamas.

The United States is suggesting that it command the force although it will not have many troops involved on the ground. It has previously in effect assumed command of the delivery of humanitarian aid into the territory from a new civil military coordination centre based in Israel.

Mission Mandate and Administrative Function

The proposed US resolution defines the purpose of the security mission as “along with the recently prepared and screened police force to assist in protecting frontier zones, stabilise the safety situation in Gaza by guaranteeing the process of demilitarising the territory including the elimination and prevention of rebuilding the military terror and offensive infrastructure as well as the permanent removal of weapons from militant factions”.

The force, answerable to a “board of peace” led by the former US president, and not to the United Nations, would be mandated to use “all necessary measures” to achieve its objectives.

Regional powers including Qatar are also worried that this mandate is overly broad, and if Hamas is to lay down arms, the group will only do so to fellow Palestinians, likely in the local law enforcement, at a time that, from the militant viewpoint, marks the conclusion of Israeli presence.

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

Aid Aspects and Funding Questions

This “transitional governance administration” in Gaza would stay until “the Palestinian Authority has satisfactorily completed its restructuring plan, the approval of which shall be approved to the BoP”, the proposal says. It also “emphasizes the importance” of full relief in Gaza, including through the United Nations, the ICRC, and the humanitarian organizations.

However, it allows for the exclusion of “any group determined to have improperly used such assistance”. The phrase leaves open the council excluding the UN relief agency, the body that the international court of justice has ruled is the legal provider of aid.

International Political Initiatives

French officials and Saudi representatives are already pressing for a mention to a sovereign Palestine to be included in the resolution. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the US presidential residence on the specified date, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has stated that a mention to a independent Palestine is a prerequisite.

The Palestinian Authority leader, 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-member security council are assigned a supervisory role over the stabilisation force, monitoring the execution of the resolution, a point mostly overlooked by the draft text. No details is specified about the funding of this stabilisation mission, which, as per the Americans, should be mostly covered by Gulf states, with Saudi Arabia assuming primary responsibility.

Israel's Requests and Regional Situations

Israel is seeking formal assurances from the United States that it be allowed to emulate the pattern of the Lebanese situation and reserve the authority to re-enter Gaza if it believes demilitarization is not taking place at a scale or speed it requires.

The Israeli proposal was presented to the former US advisor, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in Jerusalem on this week to review developments on the truce and Witkoff was scheduled to arrive later the that day.

Just the bodies of a small number of the initial 251 Israeli hostages remain unreturned.

Independently, Israeli officials has been proposing that the Gaza Strip could yet be split in two with reconstruction work starting in the Israel occupied areas of the strip. International officials insist that this is not part of the former US administration's proposal.