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Plans for an international stabilisation force authorized by the United Nations to demilitarize the militant group in the Gaza Strip are facing growing resistance after the United Arab Emirates stated it would not take part due to the lack of a well-defined legal framework.

Increasing Global Concerns

Israeli authorities have previously ruled out Turkey involvement, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has stated that his country's forces will not participate. Azerbaijan, once considered as a potential participant, did not attend a planning meeting 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 mission and in this situation will not participate, but will support all political initiatives towards resolution – and stay at the vanguard of relief efforts.

Regional Skepticism and Legal Issues

The UAE's announcement, made by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in the UAE capital, reflects regional doubts about the terms of a US-drafted resolution previously circulated to delegates at the UN in NYC. The draft places an onus on a American-led stabilisation force to be the principal means of ensuring security in the territory after Israeli forces have withdrawn from the region.

Arab states would like expanded responsibilities to be assigned to a separate Palestinian law enforcement agency. International law would also prohibit external forces from deploying into contested Palestine unless there was clear Palestinian consent; without it, the mission could be seen as coercive under international statutes, and potentially stabilising an unlawful presence.

Local Viewpoints and Appeals for Definition

A Palestinian American co-author of the Palestinian armistice plan commented: “It is essential that the mission be sent not to reinforce the illegal Israeli occupation, but to enforce global standards and terminate it. The mission will succeed as long as it operates in the whole occupied territory, including the occupied territories, at the request of the Palestinian authorities, and has a clear objective to end the occupation within the framework of a sovereign state of Palestine.”

The draft contains no reference to the occupied territories in the American proposal, or to a Palestinian state, or a two-state solution, a prospect that Israeli leadership opposes.

Continuing Negotiations and Potential Risks

Detailed negotiations on the mission mandate, including its leadership structure, began officially on last week in the UN headquarters, and look likely to be protracted – risking the development of a power gap in the strip that may strengthen militant factions.

The US is proposing that it lead the force although it will not have a large number of personnel deployed on the terrain. It has already effectively taken control of the distribution of relief supplies into Gaza from a new civil military coordination centre based in Israel.

Force Mandate and Administrative Function

The draft American document defines the purpose of the security mission as “together with the newly trained and screened police force to assist in protecting border areas, secure the safety situation in Gaza by guaranteeing the process of demilitarising the territory including the elimination and prevention of reconstructing the militant and offensive infrastructure as well as the lasting removal of arms from non-state armed groups”.

The force, answerable to a “peace council” chaired by the former US president, and not to the UN, would be required to use “all necessary measures” to fulfill its goals.

Arab states including Qatar are also worried that this mandate is overly broad, and if the group is to disarm, the group will solely do so to fellow Palestinians, likely in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the militant viewpoint, signifies the end of occupation.

They also fear the proposed authority extends to giving the mission a administrative function in the territory, a responsibility that was to be reserved for a Palestinian technocratic committee working in cooperation with a restructured Palestinian Authority.

Humanitarian Considerations and Financial Issues

This “transitional governance administration” in Gaza would stay until “the Palestinian Authority has satisfactorily finished its restructuring plan, the approval of which shall be approved to the board of peace”, the proposal says. It also “emphasizes the importance” of full humanitarian aid in Gaza, including through the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the humanitarian organizations.

However, it opens the door the exclusion of “any organisation determined to have misused such aid”. The wording leaves open the council excluding the UN relief agency, the organization that the global judicial body has said is the legal distributor of assistance.

International Diplomatic Initiatives

French officials and Saudi Arabia are currently advocating for a reference to a Palestinian state to be added in the document. The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the White House on 18 November, 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 president, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on this week to discuss the PA role.

Not the United Nations nor the 15-member security council are assigned a supervisory function over the stabilisation force, monitoring the implementation of the resolution, a point mostly ignored by the proposed document. Nothing is outlined about the financing of this security operation, which, as per the US officials, should be mostly covered by Gulf states, with the Kingdom assuming primary responsibility.

Israel's Demands and Regional Developments

Israeli authorities is seeking formal assurances from the United States that it be permitted to follow the model of Lebanon and reserve the authority to re-enter Gaza if it considers demilitarization is not taking place at a scale or pace it requires.

The Israeli proposal was put to Jared Kushner, the ex-president's relative, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in the Israeli capital on Monday to review progress on the ceasefire and the envoy was due to arrive later the same day.

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

Separately, Israeli officials has been suggesting that the territory could still be divided in two parts with reconstruction work beginning in the Israeli-controlled parts of the region. Western diplomats maintain that this is no part of the former US administration's proposal.