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Plans for an international stabilisation force mandated by the UN to demilitarize the militant group in the Gaza Strip are facing increasing resistance after the UAE announced it would not take part due to the absence of a well-defined legal structure.

Increasing International Concerns

Israel have previously ruled out Turkey participation, and Jordan's King Abdullah has declared that his country's troops will not join. The Azerbaijani government, previously mooted as a possible participant, did not attend a planning meeting in Istanbul and indicated it would not take part unless a complete truce was in place.

The UAE lacks clarity on a defined structure for the stability force and in this situation declines involvement, but will support all diplomatic efforts towards peace – and stay at the vanguard of relief efforts.

Regional Doubts and Juridical Issues

The Emirati announcement, delivered by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in the UAE capital, reflects regional reservations about the terms of a American-proposed document already circulated to delegates at the UN in NYC. The draft assigns responsibility on a US-directed stabilisation force to be the primary means of ensuring order in Gaza after Israel have withdrawn from the region.

Regional governments would prefer greater responsibilities to be given to a separate Palestinian civilian police force. Global jurisprudence would also forbid external forces from entering contested Palestine unless there was explicit Palestinian consent; otherwise, the mission could be seen as coercive under international statutes, and arguably reinforcing an unlawful presence.

Palestinian Perspectives and Calls for Clarity

A Palestinian American co-author of the Palestinian armistice plan commented: “It is critical that the mission be sent not to reinforce the illegal presence, but to uphold international law and terminate it. The mission will succeed as long as it operates in the entire disputed land, including the West Bank, at the request of the Palestinian authorities, and has a clear objective to end the presence within the framework of a sovereign Palestinian state.”

The draft contains no reference to the occupied territories in the American proposal, or to a Palestinian state, or a two-state solution, a outcome that Israeli leadership rejects.

Ongoing Discussions and Potential Dangers

Detailed negotiations on the mission authority, including its leadership structure, started officially on last week in the UN headquarters, and appear to be lengthy – potentially creating the emergence of a vacuum in Gaza that may empower Hamas.

The US is suggesting that it lead the force although it will not have many personnel deployed on the terrain. It has previously in effect taken control of the delivery of relief supplies into the territory from a new logistical hub based in Israel.

Force Objectives and Administrative Role

The draft American document outlines the aim of the security mission as “together with the newly trained and vetted police force to assist in protecting frontier zones, stabilise the safety situation in the region by guaranteeing the procedure of disarming the Gaza Strip including the destruction and blocking of rebuilding the militant and hostile facilities as well as the lasting decommissioning of weapons from militant factions”.

The force, answerable to a “board of peace” led by the former US president, and not to the UN, would be required to use “any required actions” to fulfill its objectives.

Arab states including Qatari officials are also worried that this mandate is too expansive, and if the group is to disarm, the faction will only do so to fellow Palestinians, likely in the civilian police force, at a moment that, from the Hamas viewpoint, marks the conclusion of Israeli presence.

They also worry the proposed authority extends to granting the mission a administrative role in Gaza, a task that was to be reserved for a Palestinian expert panel working in cooperation with a reformed local government.

Aid Considerations and Funding Questions

This “interim authority” in Gaza would stay until “the Palestinian Authority has satisfactorily finished its reform program, the approval of which shall be acceptable to the board of peace”, the proposal says. It also “emphasizes the significance” of full relief in the territory, including through the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Red Crescent.

However, it opens the door the exclusion of “any organisation determined to have improperly used such aid”. The wording permits the council excluding the UN relief agency, the organization that the global judicial body has ruled is the legal provider of assistance.

Global Political Efforts

France and Saudi representatives are currently pressing for a reference to a Palestinian state to be added in the document. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the White House on the specified date, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has stated that a mention to a independent Palestine is a requirement.

The PA chair, Mahmoud Abbas, met the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on this week to review the PA role.

Neither the United Nations nor the 15-member security council are assigned a supervisory function over the mission, monitoring the execution of the proposal, a point largely overlooked by the proposed document. No details is specified about the funding of this stabilisation mission, which, according to the US officials, should be largely borne by regional nations, with Saudi Arabia assuming primary responsibility.

Israel's Requests and Regional Situations

Israeli authorities is seeking formal assurances from the US that it be allowed to emulate the pattern of Lebanon and retain the right to re-enter Gaza if it considers demilitarization is not taking place at a level or pace it requires.

The Israeli proposal was presented 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 progress on the truce and Witkoff was due to appear later the same day.

Only the bodies of a small number of the original hundreds of captives remain unreturned.

Separately, Israel has been suggesting that the territory could still be divided in two parts with rebuilding efforts beginning in the Israeli-controlled parts of the strip. Western diplomats maintain that this is no part of the former US administration's proposal.