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Plans for an multinational security mission authorized by the UN to demilitarize the militant group in the Gaza Strip are encountering growing opposition after the United Arab Emirates announced it would not take part due to the lack of a clear legal framework.

Increasing Global Reservations

Israeli authorities have previously excluded Turkish involvement, and Jordan's King Abdullah has declared that his country's troops will not join. The Azerbaijani government, previously mooted as a potential participant, did not attend a planning session in Turkey and indicated it would not take part unless a full truce was in place.

Emirati officials lacks clarity on a clear structure for the stability mission and in this situation will not participate, but will support all diplomatic efforts towards resolution – and stay at the vanguard of relief efforts.

Regional Skepticism and Juridical Issues

The Emirati announcement, delivered by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in the UAE capital, reflects regional reservations about the provisions of a US-drafted document previously distributed 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 security in the territory after Israeli forces have left the region.

Regional governments would like greater duties to be assigned to a separate local civilian police force. Global jurisprudence would also prohibit external forces from deploying into occupied Palestinian territories unless there was explicit Palestinian consent; otherwise, the force could be seen as imposed under international statutes, and potentially reinforcing an illegal Israeli occupation.

Local Viewpoints and Calls for Clarity

Jamal Nusseibeh of the Palestinian armistice plan said: “It is critical that the mission be deployed not to reinforce the illegal Israeli occupation, but to uphold global standards and end it. The force will work as long as it operates in the entire occupied territory, including the West Bank, at the request of Palestine, and has a defined objective to conclude 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.

Ongoing Discussions and Possible Dangers

Detailed negotiations on the stabilisation force authority, including its command and control, began officially on last week in the UN headquarters, and appear to be lengthy – risking the development of a power gap in Gaza that may strengthen Hamas.

The US is proposing that it lead the force although it will not have a large number of personnel deployed on the terrain. It has already in effect taken control of the distribution of humanitarian aid into the territory from a new logistical hub based in the neighboring country.

Mission Mandate and Administrative Function

The draft American document defines the aim of the stabilisation force as “together with the newly trained and screened law enforcement to assist in protecting border areas, stabilise the security environment in Gaza by guaranteeing the process of disarming the Gaza Strip including the elimination and prevention of rebuilding the military terror and offensive infrastructure as well as the lasting removal of weapons from militant factions”.

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

Arab states including Qatar are also concerned that this mandate is overly broad, and if the group is to disarm, the group will solely do so to fellow Palestinians, probably in the local law enforcement, at a time that, from the Hamas viewpoint, marks the end of occupation.

They also fear the draft mandate spills into giving the mission a governance function in Gaza, a responsibility that was to be set aside for a Palestinian technocratic committee working in conjunction with a restructured Palestinian Authority.

Aid Aspects and Funding Issues

This “interim authority” in the strip would stay until “the Palestinian Authority has satisfactorily finished its restructuring plan, the approval of which shall be acceptable to the board of peace”, the proposal states. It also “emphasizes the significance” of full humanitarian aid in Gaza, including through the United Nations, the ICRC, and the Red Crescent.

However, it allows for the removal of “any organisation determined to have misused such aid”. The phrase permits the council barring the UN relief agency, the organization that the global judicial body has ruled is the legal distributor of aid.

International Political Efforts

France and Saudi Arabia are currently advocating for a mention 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 stated that a reference to a Palestinian state is a requirement.

The PA chair, Mahmoud Abbas, held talks with the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on Monday to discuss the PA role.

Not the UN nor the 15 strong security council are given a oversight function over the mission, supervising the execution of the proposal, a aspect largely ignored by the draft text. No details is outlined about the financing of this security operation, which, according to the US officials, should be largely covered by Gulf states, with the Kingdom assuming primary responsibility.

Israeli Demands and Regional Situations

Israeli authorities is requesting written guarantees from the United States that it be allowed to emulate the pattern of the Lebanese situation and reserve the right to re-enter Gaza if it believes disarmament is not occurring at a level or pace it demands.

The request was presented to Jared Kushner, the ex-president's son-in-law, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in the Israeli capital on Monday to discuss progress on the ceasefire and the envoy was scheduled to appear subsequently the same day.

Just the bodies of four of the initial hundreds of Israeli hostages are still unreturned.

Separately, Israeli officials has been proposing that the territory could still be split in two with reconstruction work beginning in the Israeli-controlled parts of the region. International officials maintain that this is no part of the Trump plan.