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Plans for an multinational security mission mandated by the United Nations to demilitarize the militant group in the Gaza Strip are encountering growing resistance after the UAE announced it would not join due to the absence of a well-defined legal framework.

Increasing International Concerns

Israel have already excluded Turkish participation, and Jordan's King Abdullah has declared that Jordanian forces will not join. The Azerbaijani government, once considered as a potential participant, was absent from a planning session in Turkey and said it would not contribute unless a complete truce was in place.

The UAE does not yet see a defined framework for the stability force and under such circumstances declines involvement, but will support all diplomatic initiatives towards resolution – and stay at the forefront of humanitarian aid.

Regional Skepticism and Juridical Concerns

The Emirati decision, delivered by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in Abu Dhabi, highlights regional reservations about the terms of a American-proposed resolution already distributed to delegates at the UN in New York. The draft assigns responsibility on a US-directed stabilisation force to be the principal means of ensuring order in Gaza after Israeli forces have withdrawn from the territory.

Arab states would like expanded responsibilities to be given to a distinct Palestinian civilian police force. International law would also forbid external forces from entering occupied Palestine unless there was clear Palestinian consent; without it, the mission could be viewed as coercive under UN law, and arguably stabilising an illegal presence.

Local Viewpoints and Appeals for Clarity

Jamal Nusseibeh of the ceasefire proposal commented: “It is essential that the mission be sent not to reinforce the unlawful presence, but to uphold global standards and terminate it. The mission will succeed as long as it enters the whole disputed land, including the West Bank, at the invitation of the Palestinian authorities, and has a clear objective to end the occupation within the framework of a independent Palestinian state.”

There is no reference to the occupied territories in the American proposal, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a peaceful resolution, a prospect that Israeli leadership opposes.

Continuing Negotiations and Potential Risks

In-depth talks on the stabilisation force mandate, including its leadership structure, began officially on Thursday in the UN headquarters, and look likely to be protracted – potentially creating the development of a vacuum in the strip that may strengthen Hamas.

The United States is suggesting that it lead the force although it will not have many personnel involved on the ground. It has previously in effect assumed command of the delivery of relief supplies into the territory from a recently established civil military coordination centre based in Israel.

Mission Mandate and Governance Role

The draft American document outlines the purpose of the security mission as “along with the newly trained and vetted police force to assist in protecting border areas, secure the security environment in the region by guaranteeing the procedure of disarming the Gaza Strip including the destruction and prevention of rebuilding the militant and offensive infrastructure as well as the permanent removal of weapons from militant factions”.

The force, answerable to a “board of peace” chaired by the former US president, and not to the United Nations, would be mandated to use “all necessary measures” to fulfill its objectives.

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 local counterparts, likely in the local law enforcement, at a time that, from the militant viewpoint, marks the conclusion of Israeli presence.

They also fear the proposed authority spills into giving the mission a administrative role in the territory, a task that was to be reserved for a local technocratic committee working in cooperation with a restructured Palestinian Authority.

Humanitarian Aspects and Financial Questions

This “transitional governance administration” in Gaza would remain until “the local government has satisfactorily completed its restructuring plan, the satisfaction of which shall be acceptable to the BoP”, the proposal says. It also “emphasizes the significance” of full humanitarian aid in Gaza, including through the UN, the ICRC, and the Red Crescent.

However, it allows for the exclusion of “any group found to have improperly used such assistance”. The wording leaves open the council excluding the UN relief agency, the organization that the global judicial body has ruled is the lawful distributor of assistance.

Global Diplomatic Efforts

France and Saudi representatives are currently pressing for a reference to a Palestinian state to be included in the document. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the White House on 18 November, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has said that a reference to a Palestinian state is a prerequisite.

The PA chair, Mahmoud Abbas, met the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on Monday to review the PA role.

Neither the United Nations nor the 15-member UNSC are given a oversight role over the stabilisation force, monitoring the implementation of the proposal, a aspect largely overlooked by the draft text. Nothing is specified about the financing of this security operation, which, according to the Americans, should be largely covered by regional nations, with Saudi Arabia assuming primary responsibility.

Israeli Demands and Local Situations

Israel is requesting formal assurances from the US that it be permitted to follow the model of the Lebanese situation and retain the right to return to the territory if it considers disarmament is not taking place at a scale or pace it demands.

The request was presented to Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in Jerusalem on Monday to discuss progress on the truce and the envoy was scheduled to arrive subsequently the that day.

Only the bodies of a small number of the initial 251 captives are still unreturned.

Separately, Israel has been proposing that the territory could still be split in two with rebuilding efforts starting in the Israeli-controlled areas of the strip. Western diplomats maintain that this is not part of the Trump plan.