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Proposals for an international security mission mandated by the United Nations to disarm the militant group in the Gaza Strip are facing growing resistance after the United Arab Emirates announced it would not join due to the lack of a well-defined legal structure.

Increasing International Reservations

Israel have already ruled out Turkey involvement, and Jordan's King Abdullah has stated that Jordanian troops will not join. Azerbaijan, once mooted as a possible participant, did not attend a planning session in Turkey and said it would not take part unless a full truce was established.

Emirati officials does not yet see a defined framework for the stability force and under such circumstances declines involvement, but will support all diplomatic efforts towards peace – and stay at the forefront of humanitarian aid.

Arab Skepticism and Legal Concerns

The Emirati decision, 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 circulated to delegates at the UN in NYC. The proposal assigns responsibility on a US-directed security mission to be the principal means of ensuring security in the territory after Israeli forces have left the territory.

Arab states would prefer greater duties to be assigned to a separate local law enforcement agency. Global jurisprudence would also prohibit foreign troops from entering occupied Palestinian territories unless there was clear local approval; otherwise, the force could be viewed as coercive under international statutes, and potentially stabilising an illegal Israeli occupation.

Local Perspectives and Appeals for Definition

Jamal Nusseibeh of the Palestinian armistice plan commented: “It is essential that the mission be deployed not to reinforce the illegal presence, but to enforce international law and terminate it. The force will succeed as long as it enters the entire disputed land, including the West Bank, at the invitation of Palestine, and has a clear objective to conclude the presence within the context of a sovereign Palestinian state.”

The draft contains no mention to the West Bank in the US draft resolution, or to a Palestinian state, or a peaceful resolution, a prospect that Israeli leadership opposes.

Ongoing Negotiations and Potential Dangers

In-depth negotiations on the mission authority, including its command and control, began formally on last week in the UN headquarters, and appear to be protracted – risking the development of a vacuum in Gaza that may empower Hamas.

The United States is suggesting that it command the force although it will not have many troops involved on the terrain. It has previously in effect taken control of the distribution of relief supplies into Gaza from a new logistical hub based in the neighboring country.

Mission Objectives and Governance Function

The proposed US resolution outlines the aim of the stabilisation force as “along with the newly trained and screened law enforcement to help secure frontier zones, stabilise the security environment in the region by ensuring the process of demilitarising the Gaza Strip including the destruction and prevention of reconstructing the military terror and hostile facilities as well as the permanent removal of arms from non-state armed groups”.

The mission, answerable to a “board of peace” led by the former US president, and not to the United Nations, would be mandated to use “any required actions” to fulfill its objectives.

Arab states including Qatari officials are also worried that this authority is too expansive, and if Hamas is to lay down arms, the group will solely do so to fellow Palestinians, likely in the civilian police force, at a moment that, from the Hamas viewpoint, marks the end of occupation.

They also fear the draft mandate extends to granting the mission a administrative function in Gaza, a responsibility that was to be reserved for a Palestinian technocratic committee working in cooperation with a reformed Palestinian Authority.

Aid Aspects and Funding Questions

This “interim authority” in the strip would remain until “the Palestinian Authority has adequately completed its reform program, the satisfaction of which shall be acceptable to the BoP”, the proposal states. It also “emphasizes the importance” of full humanitarian aid in the territory, including through the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Red Crescent.

Nonetheless, it allows for the removal of “any group found to have improperly used such assistance”. The wording permits the board of peace barring Unrwa, the body that the international court of justice has said is the lawful distributor of assistance.

Global Political Initiatives

French officials and Saudi Arabia are currently pressing for a reference to a sovereign Palestine to be included in the resolution. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the US presidential residence on 18 November, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has said that a reference to a Palestinian state is a requirement.

The PA chair, Mahmoud Abbas, met the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on Monday to review the PA role.

Neither the United Nations nor the 15-member UNSC are given a supervisory function over the stabilisation force, supervising the execution of the resolution, a point largely ignored by the draft text. No details is outlined about the financing of this security operation, which, as per the US officials, should be mostly borne by Gulf states, with Saudi Arabia taking the lead.

Israel's Demands and Local Developments

Israeli authorities is requesting written guarantees from the United States that it be permitted to follow the model of Lebanon and retain the right to return to Gaza if it believes demilitarization is not taking place at a level or speed it requires.

The request was put to Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s relative, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in the Israeli capital on this week to discuss progress on the truce and Witkoff was scheduled to arrive subsequently the same day.

Just the remains of four of the original hundreds of Israeli hostages remain not recovered.

Independently, Israeli officials has been proposing that the territory could still be split in two parts with rebuilding efforts starting in the Israel occupied parts of the strip. International officials insist that this is no part of the Trump plan.