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Plans for an international security mission mandated by the UN to demilitarize the militant group in the Gaza Strip are facing growing opposition after the UAE stated it will not join due to the absence of a clear legal structure.

Increasing Global Concerns

Israeli authorities have previously excluded Turkish participation, and Jordan's King Abdullah has stated that his country's forces will not participate. The Azerbaijani government, once considered as a potential participant, did not attend a planning meeting in Istanbul and indicated it would not take part unless a complete ceasefire was in place.

The UAE lacks clarity on a defined structure for the stability mission and under such circumstances will not participate, but backs all diplomatic initiatives towards resolution – and stay at the forefront of relief efforts.

Arab Skepticism and Legal Issues

The Emirati decision, made by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in the UAE capital, highlights regional reservations about the terms of a US-drafted resolution already distributed to diplomats at the UN in New York. The draft assigns responsibility on a American-led security mission to be the principal means of imposing security in the territory after Israel have left the region.

Regional governments would prefer greater duties to be given to a distinct local law enforcement agency. Global jurisprudence would also prohibit foreign troops from entering occupied Palestine unless there was explicit Palestinian consent; without it, the force could be viewed as imposed under UN law, and arguably reinforcing an unlawful Israeli occupation.

Local Perspectives and Appeals for Definition

Jamal Nusseibeh of the ceasefire proposal commented: “It is essential that the mission be deployed not to stabilise the illegal presence, but to enforce global standards and end it. The mission will work as long as it enters the entire disputed land, including the West Bank, at the request of Palestine, and has a clear objective to end the presence within the framework of a sovereign Palestinian state.”

There is no reference to the occupied territories in the US draft resolution, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a two-state solution, a prospect that Israel opposes.

Continuing Discussions and Possible Dangers

Detailed negotiations on the mission mandate, including its command and control, began formally on last week in the UN headquarters, and appear to be protracted – risking the emergence of a vacuum in the strip that may empower Hamas.

The United States is suggesting that it command the force although it will not have many personnel involved on the ground. It has already effectively taken control of the delivery of humanitarian aid into the territory from a new civil military coordination centre based in the neighboring country.

Mission Mandate and Administrative Function

The draft American document outlines the aim of the stabilisation force as “together with the recently prepared and vetted police force to help secure border areas, stabilise the security environment in the region by guaranteeing the procedure of demilitarising the Gaza Strip including the elimination and blocking of rebuilding the militant and hostile facilities as well as the lasting removal of weapons from non-state armed groups”.

The force, reporting to a “peace council” led by Donald Trump, and not to the United Nations, would be mandated to use “all necessary measures” to achieve its goals.

Regional powers including Qatar are also worried that this mandate is too expansive, and if the group is to disarm, the faction will solely do so to local counterparts, likely in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the Hamas perspective, signifies the conclusion of Israeli presence.

They also fear the proposed authority extends to giving the stabilisation force a administrative function in Gaza, a task that was to be set aside for a Palestinian expert panel working in cooperation with a reformed local government.

Humanitarian Aspects and Funding Issues

This “transitional governance administration” in Gaza would stay until “the Palestinian Authority has satisfactorily finished its reform program, the approval of which shall be approved to the BoP”, the draft states. It also “emphasizes the significance” of full humanitarian aid in the territory, including through the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Red Crescent.

However, it opens the door the exclusion of “any organisation determined to have misused such assistance”. The phrase leaves open the board of peace barring Unrwa, the organization that the international court of justice has said is the legal distributor of aid.

Global Diplomatic Efforts

French officials and Saudi representatives are already pressing for a mention to a Palestinian state to be added in the document. 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 independent Palestine is a prerequisite.

The Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, held talks with the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on this week to review the authority's function.

Not the UN nor the 15-member UNSC are given a oversight function over the mission, monitoring the implementation of the proposal, a aspect largely overlooked by the draft text. Nothing is outlined about the funding of this security operation, which, according to the US officials, should be largely covered by regional nations, with Saudi Arabia taking the lead.

Israeli Demands and Local Developments

Israel is requesting written guarantees from the US that it be permitted to emulate the pattern of Lebanon and reserve the right to re-enter the territory if it considers demilitarization is not occurring at a level or speed it requires.

The request was put to Jared Kushner, the ex-president's son-in-law, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in the Israeli capital on Monday to discuss progress on the truce and Witkoff was due to arrive subsequently the that day.

Just the remains of four of the original 251 captives remain unreturned.

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