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Proposals for an international security mission authorized by the United Nations to demilitarize Hamas in Gaza are encountering increasing opposition after the United Arab Emirates announced it would not take part due to the absence of a clear legal structure.

Increasing Global Reservations

Israel have previously ruled out Turkey participation, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has declared that Jordanian forces will not join. The Azerbaijani government, previously mooted as a potential participant, was absent from a planning session in Istanbul and said it would not take part unless a complete truce was in place.

The UAE does not yet see a defined structure for the stabilisation force and under such circumstances declines involvement, but backs all diplomatic initiatives towards resolution – and remain at the vanguard of humanitarian aid.

Regional Skepticism and Legal Concerns

The Emirati decision, made by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in Abu Dhabi, highlights Arab reservations about the provisions of a American-proposed document already circulated to diplomats at the UN in New York. The draft assigns responsibility on a US-directed security mission to be the primary means of ensuring order in Gaza after Israeli forces have withdrawn from the region.

Regional governments would prefer expanded duties to be assigned to a distinct Palestinian civilian police force. Global jurisprudence would also prohibit foreign troops from deploying into occupied Palestinian territories unless there was explicit Palestinian consent; otherwise, the mission could be viewed as imposed under international statutes, and arguably reinforcing an illegal presence.

Palestinian Viewpoints and Calls for Clarity

A Palestinian American co-author of the Palestinian armistice plan commented: “It is critical that the force be deployed not to stabilise the unlawful Israeli occupation, but to enforce global standards and end it. The force will work as long as it enters the whole occupied territory, including the West Bank, at the request of the Palestinian authorities, and has a clear goal to conclude the presence within the context of a independent Palestinian state.”

There is 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 Discussions and Potential Dangers

Detailed negotiations on the mission authority, including its command and control, started formally on Thursday in the UN headquarters, and appear to be lengthy – potentially creating the development of a power gap in Gaza that may strengthen militant factions.

The United States is suggesting that it command the force although it will not have many personnel deployed on the ground. It has previously effectively taken control of the distribution of humanitarian aid into the territory from a recently established logistical hub based in Israel.

Force Objectives and Administrative Role

The draft American document defines the aim of the security mission as “along with the recently prepared and screened law enforcement to help secure border areas, secure the security environment in Gaza by guaranteeing the procedure of demilitarising the territory including the destruction and prevention of reconstructing the militant and offensive infrastructure as well as the lasting decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups”.

The mission, reporting to a “board of peace” led by Donald Trump, and not to the UN, would be mandated to use “any required actions” to fulfill its objectives.

Arab states including Qatari officials are also worried that this authority is too expansive, and if the group is to disarm, the group will solely do so to local counterparts, likely in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the militant perspective, signifies the end of Israeli presence.

They also worry the proposed authority extends to granting the mission a administrative role in the territory, a responsibility that was to be set aside for a local expert panel working in cooperation with a restructured Palestinian Authority.

Humanitarian Aspects and Financial Issues

This “transitional governance administration” in Gaza would stay until “the local government has adequately completed its restructuring plan, the approval of which shall be approved to the BoP”, the draft states. It also “emphasizes the importance” of full humanitarian aid in the territory, including through the United Nations, the ICRC, and the humanitarian organizations.

Nonetheless, it opens the door the removal of “any organisation determined to have misused such aid”. The phrase leaves open the board of peace excluding the UN relief agency, the body that the global judicial body has ruled is the lawful distributor of aid.

Global Political Initiatives

French officials and Saudi representatives are already advocating for a mention to a Palestinian state to be added in the document. The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the US presidential residence on the specified date, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has said that a mention to a Palestinian state is a requirement.

The PA chair, Mahmoud Abbas, held talks with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on this week to discuss the PA role.

Not the United Nations nor the 15-member UNSC are assigned a oversight function over the stabilisation force, monitoring the implementation of the resolution, a point mostly ignored by the proposed document. No details is specified about the financing of this stabilisation mission, which, as per the Americans, should be largely covered by Gulf states, with the Kingdom taking the lead.

Israeli Demands and Local Situations

Israeli authorities is seeking written guarantees from the US that it be permitted to emulate the model of Lebanon and reserve the right to re-enter the territory if it believes disarmament is not occurring at a scale or pace it demands.

The Israeli proposal was put to the former US advisor, Donald Trump’s relative, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in the Israeli capital on Monday to review developments on the truce and Witkoff was due to appear later the same day.

Just the bodies of a small number of the original 251 captives are still not recovered.

Independently, Israel has been proposing that the territory could yet be split in two with reconstruction work starting in the Israel occupied parts of the strip. International officials maintain that this is not part of the Trump plan.