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Proposals for an international security mission mandated by the UN to demilitarize the militant group in Gaza are encountering growing resistance after the United Arab Emirates stated it will not take part due to the absence of a clear legal framework.

Growing International Concerns

Israeli authorities have already ruled out Turkish involvement, and Jordan's King Abdullah has declared that Jordanian forces will not join. The Azerbaijani government, once mooted as a possible contributor, did not attend a planning session in Istanbul and said it would not take part unless a complete truce was in place.

Emirati officials does not yet see a defined framework for the stability force and in this situation declines involvement, but backs all diplomatic initiatives towards resolution – and stay at the vanguard of humanitarian aid.

Arab Skepticism and Legal Concerns

The UAE's announcement, made by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in the UAE capital, reflects regional reservations about the terms of a American-proposed document previously distributed to diplomats at the UN in New York. The draft assigns responsibility on a American-led stabilisation force to be the principal means of ensuring order in Gaza after Israel have withdrawn from the territory.

Arab states would like greater duties to be given to a separate local law enforcement agency. International law would also forbid foreign troops from deploying into contested Palestine unless there was explicit Palestinian consent; otherwise, the force could be seen as coercive under UN law, and potentially reinforcing an unlawful presence.

Local Viewpoints and Appeals for Clarity

A Palestinian American co-author of the Palestinian armistice plan commented: “It is essential that the mission be sent not to reinforce the unlawful presence, but to enforce international law and end it. The force will succeed as long as it operates in the whole disputed land, including the West Bank, at the invitation of Palestine, and has a defined goal to end the occupation within the context of a sovereign Palestinian state.”

The draft contains no reference to the West Bank in the American proposal, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a peaceful resolution, a prospect that Israeli leadership opposes.

Ongoing Negotiations and Possible Risks

In-depth negotiations on the mission mandate, including its leadership structure, began officially on last week in the UN headquarters, and appear to be protracted – risking the emergence 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 many troops deployed on the terrain. It has previously in effect taken control of the distribution of humanitarian aid into the territory from a new civil military coordination centre based in Israel.

Mission Objectives and Administrative Function

The proposed US resolution outlines the aim of the stabilisation force as “together with the recently prepared and screened police force to help secure border areas, stabilise the security environment in Gaza by ensuring the procedure of demilitarising the Gaza Strip including the destruction and blocking of reconstructing the militant and offensive infrastructure as well as the permanent decommissioning of arms from militant factions”.

The force, answerable to a “peace council” led by Donald Trump, and not to the United Nations, would be mandated to use “any required actions” to achieve its objectives.

Regional powers including Qatari officials are also worried that this mandate is overly broad, and if Hamas is to lay down arms, the group will solely do so to local counterparts, probably in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the militant viewpoint, signifies the end of Israeli presence.

They also worry the draft mandate spills into giving the mission a governance role in the territory, a task that was to be set aside for a local technocratic committee working in conjunction with a reformed Palestinian Authority.

Humanitarian Aspects and Financial Issues

This “interim authority” in the strip would remain until “the local government has satisfactorily completed its reform program, the satisfaction of which shall be approved to the board of peace”, the proposal states. It also “emphasizes the significance” of unhindered humanitarian aid in the territory, including through the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the humanitarian organizations.

Nonetheless, it allows for the exclusion of “any organisation determined to have misused such assistance”. The phrase permits the council barring Unrwa, the body that the international court of justice has said is the legal distributor of aid.

International Political Efforts

France 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 scheduled in the White House on 18 November, and Manal Radwan has said that a mention to a Palestinian state is a requirement.

The Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, met the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on this week to review the PA role.

Neither the UN nor the 15-member security council are given a supervisory function over the stabilisation force, supervising the execution of the resolution, a point mostly ignored by the proposed document. No details is outlined about the financing of this security operation, which, as per the US officials, should be mostly covered by regional nations, with the Kingdom taking the lead.

Israeli Demands and Regional Developments

Israeli authorities is requesting formal assurances from the US that it be permitted to emulate the pattern of the Lebanese situation and retain the right to return to the territory if it believes demilitarization is not occurring at a scale or speed it demands.

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 the Israeli capital on Monday to review progress on the truce and the envoy was due to arrive later the same day.

Only the remains of four of the initial 251 Israeli hostages are still unreturned.

Independently, Israel has been proposing that the Gaza Strip could yet be split in two with rebuilding efforts starting in the Israel occupied parts of the region. International officials insist that this is no part of the former US administration's proposal.