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Plans for an multinational stabilisation force mandated by the United Nations to disarm the militant group in Gaza are encountering increasing resistance after the United Arab Emirates stated it would not join due to the lack of a clear legal structure.

Growing International Concerns

Israel have already excluded Turkish involvement, and Jordan's King Abdullah has stated that his country's troops will not participate. Azerbaijan, previously considered as a possible participant, was absent from a planning meeting in Istanbul and indicated it would not take part unless a full truce was in place.

The UAE does not yet see a defined framework for the stabilisation force and in this situation declines involvement, but will support all political efforts towards resolution – and remain at the vanguard of humanitarian aid.

Arab Doubts and Legal Issues

The Emirati decision, delivered by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in the UAE capital, highlights Arab reservations about the terms of a American-proposed resolution already distributed to delegates at the UN in New York. The draft assigns responsibility on a American-led stabilisation force to be the principal means of imposing order in Gaza after Israel have left the region.

Regional governments would prefer greater duties to be given to a distinct local law enforcement agency. Global jurisprudence would also forbid foreign troops from entering contested Palestine unless there was explicit Palestinian consent; without it, the force could be seen as coercive under international statutes, and potentially reinforcing an illegal 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 stabilise the illegal presence, but to enforce international law and end it. The mission will succeed as long as it enters the whole occupied territory, including the West Bank, at the request of the Palestinian authorities, and has a defined goal to end the presence within the framework of a sovereign state of Palestine.”

The draft contains no reference to the West Bank in the US draft resolution, or to a Palestinian state, or a peaceful resolution, a prospect that Israel opposes.

Ongoing Discussions and Potential Risks

In-depth negotiations on the mission mandate, including its leadership structure, began officially on Thursday in the UN headquarters, and look likely to be lengthy – risking the development of a vacuum in the strip that may empower militant factions.

The US is proposing that it lead the force although it will not have many personnel involved on the ground. It has previously in effect taken control of the distribution of humanitarian aid into the territory from a new logistical hub based in Israel.

Force Mandate and Governance Role

The proposed US resolution defines the aim of the security mission as “along with the newly trained and vetted law enforcement to assist in protecting frontier zones, stabilise the security environment in the region by guaranteeing the procedure of disarming the territory including the destruction and prevention 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” chaired by Donald Trump, and not to the UN, would be required to use “all necessary measures” to fulfill its objectives.

Regional powers including Qatari officials are also worried that this authority is too expansive, and if the group is to disarm, the faction will solely do so to fellow Palestinians, likely in the civilian police force, at a moment that, from the militant viewpoint, marks the conclusion of occupation.

They also fear the proposed authority spills into giving the stabilisation force a governance function in the territory, a task that was to be reserved for a local technocratic committee working in conjunction with a restructured Palestinian Authority.

Aid Considerations and Funding Questions

This “transitional governance administration” in Gaza would stay until “the local government has satisfactorily completed its reform program, the satisfaction of which shall be approved to the BoP”, the draft states. It also “emphasizes the importance” of unhindered relief in the territory, including through the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Red Crescent.

Nonetheless, it opens the door the removal of “any group found to have misused such aid”. The wording permits the board of peace excluding Unrwa, the organization that the international court of justice has ruled is the lawful distributor of aid.

Global Political Initiatives

France and Saudi representatives are already pressing for a reference to a Palestinian state to be added in the document. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the US presidential residence on the specified date, and Manal Radwan has said that a mention to a Palestinian state is a requirement.

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

Not the UN nor the 15 strong UNSC are assigned a oversight function over the mission, monitoring the implementation of the proposal, a aspect mostly overlooked by the proposed document. Nothing is outlined about the funding of this stabilisation mission, which, as per the Americans, should be mostly covered by Gulf states, with Saudi Arabia taking the lead.

Israeli Requests and Local Developments

Israel is seeking written guarantees from the US that it be permitted to follow the pattern of the Lebanese situation and retain the right to return to the territory if it believes demilitarization is not occurring at a scale or pace it demands.

The Israeli proposal was put to the former US advisor, the ex-president's relative, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in Jerusalem on this week to discuss developments on the truce and the envoy was scheduled to appear subsequently the that day.

Just the remains of a small number of the original 251 captives remain unreturned.

Separately, Israel has been suggesting that the Gaza Strip could still be divided in two with rebuilding efforts starting in the Israel occupied parts of the strip. International officials insist that this is not part of the Trump plan.