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Proposals for an international stabilisation force mandated by the UN to demilitarize Hamas in Gaza are encountering growing resistance after the UAE announced it will not take part due to the absence of a clear legal framework.

Increasing Global Concerns

Israel have previously ruled out Turkish involvement, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has declared that his country's troops will not participate. The Azerbaijani government, previously considered as a potential participant, did not attend a preparatory session in Turkey and said it would not take part unless a complete ceasefire was established.

The UAE lacks clarity on a defined framework for the stability mission and in this situation declines involvement, but will support all political efforts towards peace – and remain at the forefront of humanitarian aid.

Regional Skepticism and Legal Issues

The UAE's announcement, delivered by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in the UAE capital, reflects Arab reservations about the terms of a American-proposed document previously distributed to delegates at the UN in NYC. The proposal assigns responsibility on a US-directed stabilisation force to be the primary means of ensuring order in the territory after Israel have withdrawn from the region.

Arab states would like greater responsibilities to be given to a separate Palestinian civilian police force. Global jurisprudence would also forbid foreign troops from entering contested Palestine unless there was explicit Palestinian consent; otherwise, the force could be seen as imposed under UN law, and arguably reinforcing an unlawful presence.

Palestinian Viewpoints and Appeals for Clarity

A Palestinian American co-author of the ceasefire proposal commented: “It is critical that the mission be deployed not to reinforce the illegal Israeli occupation, but to uphold global standards and terminate it. The force will work as long as it operates in the whole disputed land, including the occupied territories, at the request of the Palestinian authorities, and has a defined objective to end the occupation within the framework of a sovereign Palestinian state.”

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

Ongoing Negotiations and Potential Risks

In-depth talks on the stabilisation force authority, including its command and control, began officially on last week in New York, and look likely to be lengthy – potentially creating the development of a vacuum in Gaza that may strengthen militant factions.

The US is proposing that it lead the mission although it will not have a large number of troops involved on the terrain. It has previously in effect assumed command of the delivery of relief supplies into Gaza from a recently established logistical hub based in the neighboring country.

Mission Mandate and Administrative Role

The draft US resolution outlines the purpose of the security mission as “together with the newly trained and vetted police force to help secure frontier zones, secure the security environment in the region by ensuring the procedure of disarming the Gaza Strip including the elimination and prevention of rebuilding the military terror and offensive infrastructure as well as the lasting decommissioning of arms from non-state armed groups”.

The mission, answerable to a “board of peace” chaired by Donald Trump, and not to the UN, would be mandated to use “all necessary measures” to achieve its goals.

Regional powers including Qatar are also worried that this authority is too expansive, and if the group is to lay down arms, the group will solely do so to fellow Palestinians, probably in the civilian police force, at a time that, from the Hamas perspective, signifies the end of Israeli presence.

They also worry the proposed authority spills into granting the mission a governance role in the territory, a task that was to be reserved for a local technocratic committee working in conjunction with a reformed Palestinian Authority.

Aid Aspects 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 importance” of unhindered relief 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 group found to have improperly used such assistance”. The wording leaves open the council barring Unrwa, the body that the global judicial body has ruled is the legal provider of assistance.

Global Diplomatic Efforts

France and Saudi representatives are already advocating for a reference to a Palestinian state to be included in the resolution. The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the US presidential residence on 18 November, and Manal Radwan has said that a mention to a Palestinian state is a requirement.

The Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, met the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on Monday to review the authority's function.

Not the UN nor the 15 strong UNSC are assigned a supervisory role over the mission, supervising the implementation of the proposal, a point largely overlooked by the proposed document. Nothing is outlined about the funding of this security operation, which, as per the US officials, should be mostly borne by regional nations, with the Kingdom taking the lead.

Israeli Demands and Regional Developments

Israeli authorities is seeking formal assurances from the United States that it be permitted to follow the model of the Lebanese situation and reserve the right to return to Gaza if it believes demilitarization is not taking place at a level or pace it demands.

The request was presented to the former US advisor, the ex-president's relative, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in the Israeli capital on this week to review progress on the truce and the envoy was scheduled to appear subsequently the same day.

Only the bodies of four of the original hundreds of captives remain unreturned.

Independently, Israeli officials has been proposing that the territory could still be divided in two parts with reconstruction work starting in the Israeli-controlled areas of the strip. International officials maintain that this is not part of the former US administration's proposal.