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Plans for an multinational stabilisation force authorized by the United Nations to demilitarize the militant group in Gaza are encountering growing resistance after the UAE stated it will not join due to the lack of a clear legal framework.

Growing International Concerns

Israeli authorities have previously excluded Turkey participation, and Jordan's King Abdullah has declared that his country's troops will not join. The Azerbaijani government, previously mooted as a possible participant, was absent from a planning meeting in Istanbul and said it would not take part unless a full ceasefire was in place.

The UAE does not yet see a defined structure for the stabilisation mission and under such circumstances will not participate, but backs all political initiatives towards resolution – and remain at the vanguard of humanitarian aid.

Arab Skepticism and Legal Concerns

The UAE's announcement, delivered by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in the UAE capital, highlights regional doubts about the provisions of a US-drafted resolution already distributed to diplomats at the UN in NYC. The proposal assigns responsibility on a American-led stabilisation force to be the principal means of imposing security in the territory after Israeli forces have left the territory.

Arab states would like expanded responsibilities to be assigned to a distinct Palestinian law enforcement agency. International law would also forbid foreign troops from entering contested Palestine unless there was clear local approval; otherwise, the mission could be viewed as coercive under international statutes, and arguably reinforcing an unlawful presence.

Local Viewpoints and Appeals for Definition

Jamal Nusseibeh of the ceasefire proposal commented: “It is essential that the force be deployed not to reinforce the unlawful Israeli occupation, but to enforce global standards and end it. The force will succeed as long as it enters the entire occupied territory, including the occupied territories, at the request of the Palestinian authorities, and has a clear objective to conclude the presence within the framework of a sovereign Palestinian state.”

The draft contains no mention to the occupied territories in the US draft resolution, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a peaceful resolution, a prospect that Israeli leadership rejects.

Continuing Negotiations and Potential Risks

Detailed talks on the mission authority, including its leadership structure, started officially on last week in the UN headquarters, and look likely to be lengthy – risking the development of a vacuum in the strip that may empower militant factions.

The United States is suggesting that it lead the mission although it will not have a large number of personnel involved on the terrain. It has already effectively taken control of the delivery of humanitarian aid into the territory from a new civil military coordination centre based in Israel.

Force Mandate and Administrative Role

The proposed US resolution defines the aim of the security mission as “along with the recently prepared and screened law enforcement to assist in protecting frontier zones, secure the safety situation in the region by ensuring the process of disarming the Gaza Strip including the elimination and blocking of reconstructing the militant and hostile facilities as well as the lasting decommissioning of weapons from militant factions”.

The force, answerable to a “peace council” led by the former US president, and not to the United Nations, would be mandated to use “any required actions” to achieve 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 only do so to fellow Palestinians, probably in the local law enforcement, at a time that, from the Hamas viewpoint, marks the end 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 conjunction with a restructured Palestinian Authority.

Humanitarian Considerations and Financial Questions

This “transitional governance administration” in Gaza would remain until “the Palestinian Authority has adequately finished its restructuring plan, the satisfaction of which shall be acceptable to the board of peace”, the proposal states. It also “underscores the significance” of unhindered humanitarian aid in the territory, including through the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the humanitarian organizations.

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

International Diplomatic Initiatives

France and Saudi representatives are currently pressing for a mention to a Palestinian state to be included in the resolution. The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the White House on the specified date, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has said that a reference 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 discuss the authority's function.

Not the UN nor the 15 strong UNSC are assigned a oversight role over the mission, supervising the implementation of the proposal, a point mostly ignored by the draft text. No details is specified about the financing of this security operation, which, according to the Americans, should be largely covered by regional nations, with the Kingdom assuming primary responsibility.

Israel's Requests and Regional Situations

Israel is requesting written guarantees from the US that it be permitted to emulate the model of Lebanon and retain the authority to re-enter Gaza if it considers disarmament is not taking place at a scale or speed it demands.

The request was put to Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in the Israeli capital on Monday to discuss developments on the truce and Witkoff was due to arrive subsequently the that day.

Only the remains of a small number of the original 251 captives are still unreturned.

Separately, Israeli officials has been proposing that the Gaza Strip could still be divided in two with reconstruction work starting in the Israel occupied areas of the strip. Western diplomats maintain that this is no part of the Trump plan.