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Plans for an multinational security mission authorized by the UN to demilitarize Hamas in the Gaza Strip are facing increasing resistance after the UAE announced it will not join due to the lack of a well-defined legal structure.

Increasing Global Concerns

Israeli authorities have already ruled out Turkey participation, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has declared that his country's forces will not join. Azerbaijan, previously mooted as a potential participant, did not attend a preparatory session in Turkey and indicated it would not take part unless a full ceasefire was established.

The UAE lacks clarity on a defined structure for the stabilisation force and in this situation declines involvement, but will support all diplomatic efforts towards resolution – and remain at the forefront of relief efforts.

Regional Skepticism and Juridical Issues

The UAE's announcement, made by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in Abu Dhabi, highlights regional reservations about the provisions of a US-drafted document already distributed to diplomats at the UN in New York. The proposal places an onus on a US-directed stabilisation force to be the principal means of imposing order in the territory after Israel have withdrawn from the region.

Regional governments would prefer expanded duties to be given to a distinct local law enforcement agency. Global jurisprudence would also prohibit external forces from deploying into occupied Palestinian territories unless there was explicit Palestinian consent; without it, the force could be viewed as imposed under UN law, and potentially reinforcing an illegal Israeli occupation.

Local Viewpoints and Appeals for Clarity

A Palestinian American co-author of the Palestinian armistice plan said: “It is critical that the force be deployed not to stabilise the unlawful presence, but to uphold global standards and terminate it. The force will work as long as it operates in the entire occupied territory, including the West Bank, at the request of the Palestinian authorities, and has a clear goal to conclude the presence within the context of a sovereign Palestinian state.”

The draft contains no reference to the occupied territories in the US draft resolution, or to a Palestinian state, or a two-state solution, a outcome that Israel opposes.

Ongoing Negotiations and Potential Dangers

Detailed talks on the stabilisation force authority, including its command and control, began officially on Thursday in the UN headquarters, and appear to be protracted – risking the development of a power gap in Gaza that may empower Hamas.

The US is suggesting that it command the force although it will not have a large number of personnel deployed on the ground. It has previously in effect assumed command of the delivery of relief supplies into the territory from a recently established civil military coordination centre based in Israel.

Mission Objectives and Governance Function

The draft US resolution outlines the aim of the stabilisation force as “along with the newly trained and screened police force to help secure border areas, stabilise the safety situation in the region by ensuring the process of demilitarising the Gaza Strip including the elimination and prevention of rebuilding the military terror and hostile facilities as well as the permanent removal of weapons from non-state armed groups”.

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

Regional powers including Qatari officials are also concerned that this authority is too expansive, and if the group is to disarm, the faction will solely do so to local counterparts, probably in the local law enforcement, at a time that, from the Hamas perspective, marks the conclusion of occupation.

They also worry the draft mandate extends to giving the stabilisation force a administrative function in the territory, a task that was to be reserved for a Palestinian technocratic committee working in conjunction with a reformed local government.

Aid Aspects and Funding Issues

This “transitional governance administration” in Gaza would stay until “the local government has adequately finished its restructuring plan, the satisfaction of which shall be approved to the BoP”, the proposal says. It also “underscores the importance” of unhindered relief in the territory, including through the United Nations, the ICRC, and the Red Crescent.

Nonetheless, it opens the door the removal of “any organisation determined to have improperly used such assistance”. The wording leaves open the board of peace excluding the UN relief agency, the organization that the global judicial body has ruled is the legal distributor of assistance.

Global Diplomatic 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 scheduled in the White House on the specified date, and Manal Radwan has stated that a mention to a Palestinian state is a requirement.

The Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, met the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on Monday to review the authority's function.

Not the UN nor the 15 strong UNSC are assigned a supervisory role over the mission, monitoring the implementation of the proposal, a aspect mostly ignored by the draft text. Nothing is specified about the financing of this stabilisation mission, which, as per the Americans, should be mostly covered by regional nations, with Saudi Arabia assuming primary responsibility.

Israeli Requests and Regional Situations

Israeli authorities is seeking written guarantees from the United States that it be permitted to follow the pattern of Lebanon and reserve the right to return to Gaza if it considers disarmament is not occurring at a scale or speed it requires.

The Israeli proposal was put to the former US advisor, the ex-president's son-in-law, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in the Israeli capital on Monday to review progress on the ceasefire and Witkoff was due to appear later the same day.

Just the remains of four of the original 251 captives are still not recovered.

Independently, Israeli officials has been suggesting that the territory could still be divided in two with rebuilding efforts starting in the Israeli-controlled parts of the region. Western diplomats insist that this is not part of the former US administration's proposal.