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Proposals for an international security mission mandated by the UN to demilitarize Hamas in the Gaza Strip are facing growing opposition after the UAE announced it would not join due to the absence of a clear legal framework.

Growing Global Concerns

Israel have previously excluded Turkey involvement, and Jordan's King Abdullah has declared that Jordanian forces will not join. The Azerbaijani government, previously considered as a possible contributor, was absent from a preparatory meeting in Turkey and said it would not take part unless a complete ceasefire was established.

Emirati officials does not yet see a defined framework for the stability mission and in this situation will not participate, but backs all political initiatives towards resolution – and stay at the forefront of humanitarian aid.

Arab Doubts and Legal Concerns

The Emirati announcement, delivered by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in the UAE capital, highlights Arab doubts about the provisions of a US-drafted resolution previously distributed to delegates at the UN in NYC. The draft places an onus on a American-led security mission to be the primary means of ensuring order in Gaza after Israel have left the territory.

Regional governments would like expanded responsibilities to be assigned to a separate local civilian police force. International law would also forbid foreign troops from deploying into contested Palestinian territories unless there was clear local approval; otherwise, the force could be viewed as imposed under international statutes, and potentially stabilising an unlawful presence.

Local Perspectives and Appeals for Definition

Jamal Nusseibeh of the Palestinian armistice plan commented: “It is essential that the mission be deployed not to stabilise the illegal Israeli occupation, but to uphold international law and terminate it. The force will succeed as long as it operates in the whole occupied territory, including the West Bank, at the invitation of the Palestinian authorities, and has a defined objective to end the presence within the framework of a independent 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 rejects.

Ongoing Discussions and Possible Dangers

Detailed talks on the mission mandate, including its leadership structure, began formally on last week in New York, and look likely to be protracted – potentially creating the emergence of a power gap in the strip that may empower militant factions.

The United States is proposing that it lead the mission although it will not have a large number of personnel involved on the terrain. It has previously in effect assumed command of the delivery of humanitarian aid into the territory from a recently established logistical hub based in Israel.

Mission Objectives and Governance Role

The draft American document outlines the purpose of the stabilisation force as “along with the newly trained and screened police force to help secure frontier zones, secure the security environment in the region by ensuring the procedure of demilitarising the territory including the destruction and prevention of reconstructing the militant and hostile facilities as well as the permanent removal of weapons from non-state armed groups”.

The force, reporting 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 goals.

Regional powers including Qatari officials are also concerned that this authority is overly broad, and if the group is to lay down arms, the group will only do so to local counterparts, likely in the local law enforcement, at a time that, from the militant perspective, marks the end of occupation.

They also fear the draft mandate extends to giving the stabilisation force a governance role in Gaza, a responsibility that was to be set aside for a Palestinian technocratic committee working in cooperation with a restructured Palestinian Authority.

Aid Considerations and Funding Questions

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

Nonetheless, it opens the door the removal of “any organisation determined to have misused such aid”. The wording permits the board of peace excluding Unrwa, the body that the international court of justice has said is the legal provider of aid.

International Political Efforts

France and Saudi Arabia are currently pressing for a mention to a sovereign Palestine to be added in the document. The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the White House on the specified date, and Manal Radwan has said that a reference to a Palestinian state is a requirement.

The PA chair, Mahmoud Abbas, held talks with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on this week to review the PA role.

Neither the UN nor the 15-member security council are assigned a oversight role over the mission, monitoring the execution of the resolution, a point largely ignored by the draft text. No details is outlined about the funding of this security operation, which, according to the Americans, should be mostly borne by regional nations, with Saudi Arabia taking the lead.

Israel's Requests and Local Situations

Israel is requesting formal assurances from the United States that it be allowed to follow the model of the Lebanese situation and retain the right to re-enter Gaza if it believes disarmament is not taking place at a scale or pace it requires.

The request was put to the former US advisor, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in the Israeli capital on Monday to discuss developments on the truce and Witkoff was due to appear later the that day.

Only the remains of a small number of the original hundreds of captives are still not recovered.

Independently, Israel has been proposing that the territory could still be divided in two parts with rebuilding efforts beginning in the Israel occupied areas of the strip. International officials maintain that this is not part of the Trump plan.