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

Increasing International Reservations

Israel have already excluded Turkish involvement, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has declared that his country's troops will not join. The Azerbaijani government, once considered as a possible contributor, was absent from a planning meeting in Turkey and indicated it would not take part unless a full ceasefire was established.

Emirati officials lacks clarity on a defined framework for the stabilisation force and in this situation declines involvement, but will support all political efforts towards peace – and stay at the vanguard of relief efforts.

Arab Skepticism and Juridical Concerns

The UAE's announcement, delivered by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in Abu Dhabi, highlights regional doubts about the provisions of a American-proposed resolution previously circulated to delegates at the UN in New York. The draft assigns responsibility on a American-led security mission to be the principal means of imposing order in Gaza after Israeli forces have left the territory.

Arab states would prefer expanded responsibilities to be assigned to a separate Palestinian law enforcement agency. International law would also forbid foreign troops from deploying into occupied Palestine unless there was clear local approval; otherwise, the mission could be seen as imposed under UN law, and arguably reinforcing an unlawful Israeli occupation.

Local Viewpoints and Calls for Definition

Jamal Nusseibeh of the Palestinian armistice plan said: “It is critical that the force be sent not to reinforce the illegal presence, but to uphold international law and end it. The mission will work as long as it enters the whole disputed land, including the occupied territories, at the request of Palestine, and has a clear objective to conclude the presence within the context of a sovereign Palestinian state.”

There is no reference to the occupied territories in the American proposal, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a two-state solution, a outcome that Israel rejects.

Ongoing Negotiations and Possible Dangers

In-depth talks on the mission mandate, including its leadership structure, started formally on last week in the UN headquarters, and look likely to be lengthy – potentially creating the development of a vacuum in Gaza that may strengthen Hamas.

The US is suggesting that it lead the mission although it will not have a large number of personnel deployed on the terrain. It has previously in effect assumed command of the distribution of humanitarian aid into Gaza from a recently established civil military coordination centre based in Israel.

Force Objectives and Administrative Function

The draft US resolution outlines the purpose of the stabilisation force as “along with the newly trained and screened police force to help secure frontier zones, secure the safety situation in Gaza by ensuring the procedure of demilitarising the Gaza Strip including the elimination and blocking of rebuilding the military terror and offensive infrastructure as well as the lasting removal of weapons from militant factions”.

The mission, answerable to a “peace council” chaired by the former US president, and not to the UN, would be required to use “any required actions” to achieve its objectives.

Regional powers including Qatar are also concerned that this mandate is overly broad, and if Hamas is to disarm, the faction will solely do so to fellow Palestinians, likely in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the militant perspective, marks the end of Israeli presence.

They also fear the proposed authority spills into granting the mission a administrative function in the territory, a task that was to be set aside for a Palestinian technocratic committee working in cooperation with a reformed Palestinian Authority.

Aid Considerations and Financial Issues

This “transitional governance administration” in the strip would remain until “the local government has adequately finished its restructuring plan, the satisfaction of which shall be approved to the BoP”, the proposal says. It also “emphasizes the importance” of full relief in the territory, including through the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Red Crescent.

Nonetheless, it allows for the exclusion of “any group determined to have improperly used such aid”. The phrase leaves open the council excluding Unrwa, the organization that the international court of justice has said is the lawful provider of aid.

International Political Initiatives

French officials and Saudi representatives are already pressing for a reference to a Palestinian state to be included in the resolution. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the White House on 18 November, and Manal Radwan has stated that a mention to a independent Palestine is a prerequisite.

The PA chair, Mahmoud Abbas, met the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on Monday to discuss the authority's function.

Not the UN nor the 15 strong UNSC are assigned a supervisory function over the stabilisation force, monitoring the execution of the resolution, a point mostly overlooked by the proposed document. Nothing is specified about the funding of this security operation, which, as per the Americans, should be mostly borne by regional nations, with Saudi Arabia assuming primary responsibility.

Israeli Demands and Regional Situations

Israel is requesting formal assurances from the United States that it be allowed to emulate the pattern of the Lebanese situation and retain the right to return to Gaza if it believes demilitarization is not occurring at a level or speed it demands.

The request was presented to Jared Kushner, the ex-president's relative, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in the Israeli capital on Monday to review progress on the truce and Witkoff was due to appear subsequently the that day.

Just the remains of four of the initial hundreds of captives are still unreturned.

Independently, Israel has been proposing that the Gaza Strip could still be split in two with rebuilding efforts beginning in the Israel occupied areas of the strip. International officials maintain that this is not part of the former US administration's proposal.