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Proposals for an international stabilisation force authorized by the United Nations to demilitarize Hamas in Gaza are encountering increasing opposition after the UAE stated it would not join due to the lack of a well-defined legal structure.

Growing Global Concerns

Israeli authorities have already ruled out Turkey involvement, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has stated that Jordanian troops will not participate. Azerbaijan, once considered as a possible contributor, did not attend a planning session in Turkey and said it would not take part unless a complete ceasefire was established.

Emirati officials does not yet see a clear structure for the stabilisation mission and in this situation declines involvement, but will support all diplomatic efforts towards resolution – and stay at the forefront of humanitarian aid.

Arab Skepticism and Juridical Issues

The UAE's announcement, delivered by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in the UAE capital, reflects Arab reservations about the terms of a US-drafted resolution previously distributed to diplomats at the UN in NYC. The draft assigns responsibility on a American-led stabilisation force to be the primary means of ensuring security in Gaza after Israeli forces have withdrawn from the region.

Arab states would like expanded duties to be given to a distinct local civilian police force. International law would also forbid foreign troops from entering occupied Palestinian territories unless there was explicit Palestinian consent; without it, the force could be seen as imposed under international statutes, and arguably reinforcing an unlawful Israeli occupation.

Local Viewpoints and Appeals for Clarity

A Palestinian American co-author of the Palestinian armistice plan commented: “It is critical that the mission be deployed not to stabilise the unlawful Israeli occupation, but to enforce global standards and terminate it. The force will succeed as long as it operates in the entire occupied territory, including the West Bank, at the invitation of the Palestinian authorities, and has a defined goal to conclude the occupation within the context of a independent state of Palestine.”

The draft contains no mention to the West Bank in the American proposal, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a peaceful resolution, a prospect that Israeli leadership rejects.

Ongoing Discussions and Possible Dangers

Detailed talks on the mission mandate, including its command and control, started officially 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 militant factions.

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

Force Objectives and Governance Role

The draft US resolution outlines the aim of the stabilisation force as “along with the newly trained and screened police force to help secure frontier zones, stabilise the safety situation in Gaza by ensuring the process of disarming the territory including the destruction and prevention of reconstructing the militant and hostile facilities as well as the permanent decommissioning of weapons from militant factions”.

The mission, reporting to a “peace council” chaired by the former US president, and not to the UN, would be mandated to use “all necessary measures” to fulfill its goals.

Regional powers including Qatar are also worried that this authority is too expansive, and if Hamas is to disarm, the group will solely do so to local counterparts, probably in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the militant perspective, marks the end of occupation.

They also worry the draft mandate extends to giving the stabilisation force a governance function in the territory, a responsibility that was to be set aside for a Palestinian technocratic committee working in cooperation with a reformed local government.

Aid Aspects and Financial Questions

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

Nonetheless, it opens the door the exclusion of “any organisation determined to have misused such aid”. The phrase permits the board of peace excluding the UN relief agency, the organization that the global judicial body has said is the lawful provider of assistance.

Global Political Efforts

French officials and Saudi Arabia are currently advocating for a mention to a Palestinian state to be added in the resolution. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the White House on 18 November, and Manal Radwan has said that a reference to a Palestinian state is a prerequisite.

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

Neither the UN nor the 15 strong UNSC are assigned a oversight role over the mission, monitoring the execution of the resolution, a point largely overlooked by the draft text. No details is outlined about the financing of this security operation, which, according to the US officials, should be mostly covered by regional nations, with the Kingdom taking the lead.

Israeli Requests and Local Developments

Israel is requesting formal assurances from the US that it be allowed to emulate the model of Lebanon and retain the authority to re-enter Gaza if it believes disarmament is not occurring at a scale or speed it demands.

The Israeli proposal was put to the former US advisor, the ex-president's son-in-law, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in Jerusalem on this week to review progress on the truce and Witkoff was due to arrive subsequently the that day.

Just the bodies of four of the original hundreds of captives are still not recovered.

Separately, Israel has been proposing that the territory could yet be split in two with reconstruction work beginning in the Israel occupied areas of the strip. International officials insist that this is no part of the Trump plan.