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Plans for an international stabilisation force authorized by the UN to disarm Hamas in Gaza are encountering increasing resistance after the UAE stated it will not join due to the lack of a clear legal structure.

Growing International Reservations

Israeli authorities have already excluded Turkish participation, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has declared that his country's forces will not participate. The Azerbaijani government, once considered as a possible contributor, was absent from a planning meeting in Istanbul and indicated it would not take part unless a full truce was in place.

The UAE does not yet see a defined framework for the stability mission and under such circumstances will not participate, but backs all diplomatic efforts towards resolution – and remain at the vanguard of relief efforts.

Regional Doubts and Legal Issues

The Emirati announcement, made by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in Abu Dhabi, highlights regional doubts about the provisions of a American-proposed resolution previously distributed to delegates at the UN in NYC. The proposal places an onus on a American-led security mission to be the primary means of ensuring order in Gaza after Israel have left the region.

Arab states would prefer greater duties to be assigned to a separate Palestinian civilian police force. Global jurisprudence would also prohibit external forces from deploying into occupied Palestine unless there was clear local approval; without it, the force could be seen as imposed under UN law, and potentially stabilising an unlawful Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Viewpoints and Calls for Clarity

Jamal Nusseibeh of the ceasefire proposal commented: “It is critical that the force be sent not to reinforce the unlawful presence, but to enforce international law and end it. The mission will succeed as long as it enters 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 Palestinian state.”

The draft contains no mention to the West Bank in the American proposal, or to a Palestinian state, or a peaceful resolution, a outcome that Israel rejects.

Ongoing Negotiations and Potential Dangers

Detailed talks on the mission authority, including its command and control, began formally on last week in the UN headquarters, and look likely to be protracted – risking the emergence of a power gap in Gaza that may strengthen Hamas.

The United States is proposing that it command the force although it will not have many troops involved on the terrain. It has previously effectively taken control of the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza from a recently established logistical hub based in Israel.

Mission Objectives and Administrative Role

The draft US resolution outlines the purpose of the stabilisation force as “together with the newly trained and screened law enforcement to assist in protecting border areas, stabilise the safety situation in Gaza by guaranteeing the process of disarming the Gaza Strip including the elimination and blocking of reconstructing the militant and offensive infrastructure as well as the lasting removal of weapons from non-state armed groups”.

The mission, answerable to a “peace council” led by the former US president, and not to the United Nations, would be required to use “all necessary measures” to achieve its goals.

Regional powers including Qatar are also concerned that this mandate is too expansive, and if the group is to lay down arms, the group will only do so to local counterparts, probably in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the Hamas perspective, marks the end of Israeli presence.

They also fear the draft mandate spills into granting the stabilisation force a administrative role in the territory, a responsibility that was to be reserved for a local expert panel working in cooperation with a restructured local government.

Humanitarian Aspects and Financial Questions

This “interim authority” in the strip would stay until “the Palestinian Authority has satisfactorily completed its reform program, the approval of which shall be acceptable to the BoP”, the draft states. It also “underscores the importance” of full relief in Gaza, including through the UN, the ICRC, and the humanitarian organizations.

However, it opens the door the exclusion of “any group found to have improperly used such aid”. The phrase permits the council excluding the UN relief agency, the body that the international court of justice has said is the lawful distributor of aid.

International Political Initiatives

France and Saudi Arabia are currently advocating for a reference to a Palestinian state to be included in the document. The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the US presidential residence on 18 November, and Manal Radwan 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 Paris on this week to review the authority's function.

Neither the United Nations nor the 15-member UNSC are assigned a supervisory function over the stabilisation force, supervising the execution of the proposal, a aspect mostly ignored by the proposed document. No details is specified about the financing of this security operation, which, as per the Americans, should be largely borne by regional nations, with Saudi Arabia assuming primary responsibility.

Israel's Requests and Regional Developments

Israeli authorities is seeking written guarantees from the US that it be allowed to emulate the model of the Lebanese situation 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 the former US advisor, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in Jerusalem on Monday to review progress on the ceasefire and Witkoff was scheduled to arrive later the same day.

Only the remains of a small number of the original 251 Israeli hostages are still not recovered.

Separately, Israel has been proposing that the territory could yet be divided in two with reconstruction work beginning in the Israel occupied areas of the strip. International officials insist that this is not part of the Trump plan.