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Proposals for an international security mission authorized by the United Nations to disarm the militant group in Gaza are facing growing resistance after the United Arab Emirates stated it would not join due to the absence of a clear legal framework.

Growing Global Reservations

Israel have already excluded Turkish involvement, and Jordan's King Abdullah has declared that Jordanian troops will not participate. The Azerbaijani government, once considered as a possible contributor, did not attend a planning session in Turkey and indicated it would not take part unless a complete truce was established.

The UAE lacks clarity on a clear framework for the stabilisation force and under such circumstances declines involvement, but backs all political efforts towards peace – and stay at the vanguard of humanitarian aid.

Regional Skepticism and Juridical Issues

The Emirati announcement, made by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in the UAE capital, highlights Arab reservations about the terms of a American-proposed document previously circulated to delegates at the UN in NYC. The draft assigns responsibility on a US-directed stabilisation force to be the principal means of imposing security in Gaza after Israel have withdrawn from the region.

Regional governments would like greater duties to be given to a distinct local civilian police force. International law would also prohibit foreign troops from entering occupied Palestinian territories unless there was explicit Palestinian consent; without it, the mission could be seen as coercive under UN law, and arguably stabilising an unlawful presence.

Palestinian Perspectives and Calls for Definition

Jamal Nusseibeh of the ceasefire proposal said: “It is essential that the force be deployed not to stabilise the unlawful presence, but to uphold international law and terminate it. The force will succeed as long as it enters the entire disputed land, including the West Bank, at the request of Palestine, and has a defined goal to conclude the occupation within the framework of a independent Palestinian state.”

There is no reference to the West Bank in the American proposal, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a two-state solution, a outcome that Israeli leadership rejects.

Continuing Negotiations and Possible Dangers

Detailed talks on the mission mandate, including its leadership structure, started officially on last week in New York, and appear to be lengthy – potentially creating the emergence of a vacuum in the strip that may strengthen militant factions.

The US is proposing that it lead the force although it will not have a large number of troops 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.

Force Objectives and Administrative Role

The draft American document defines the aim of the security mission as “together with the newly trained and vetted law enforcement to assist in protecting frontier zones, secure the security environment in Gaza by ensuring the procedure of disarming the territory including the destruction and blocking of rebuilding the militant and hostile facilities as well as the permanent decommissioning of weapons from militant factions”.

The mission, answerable to a “peace council” led by Donald Trump, and not to the United Nations, would be mandated to use “any required actions” to achieve its goals.

Regional powers including Qatari officials are also concerned that this authority is too expansive, and if the group is to disarm, the group will only do so to local counterparts, likely in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the militant viewpoint, marks the conclusion of occupation.

They also worry the draft mandate extends to granting the mission a governance role in the territory, a responsibility that was to be reserved for a local expert panel working in conjunction with a restructured local government.

Aid Considerations and Funding Questions

This “transitional governance administration” in the strip would stay until “the Palestinian Authority has adequately finished its reform program, the approval of which shall be approved to the board of peace”, the draft states. It also “emphasizes the importance” of full relief in the territory, including through the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the humanitarian organizations.

However, it allows for the exclusion of “any group determined to have misused such aid”. The phrase leaves open the board of peace excluding the UN relief agency, the organization that the global judicial body has said is the legal provider of assistance.

Global Political Initiatives

French officials and Saudi representatives are currently pressing for a mention to a Palestinian state to be included in the document. The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the US presidential residence on the specified date, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has stated that a mention to a Palestinian state is a prerequisite.

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

Neither the UN nor the 15-member UNSC are assigned a oversight function over the stabilisation force, monitoring the execution of the proposal, a aspect mostly ignored by the draft text. Nothing is specified about the funding of this security operation, which, according to the US officials, should be largely covered by regional nations, with the Kingdom taking the lead.

Israel's Requests and Regional Situations

Israel is requesting written guarantees from the US that it be allowed to follow the model of the Lebanese situation and retain the right to re-enter the territory if it believes disarmament is not taking place at a scale or speed it requires.

The Israeli proposal was presented to Jared Kushner, the ex-president's relative, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in Jerusalem on Monday to review progress on the ceasefire and Witkoff was scheduled to arrive later the same day.

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

Separately, Israel has been proposing that the territory could yet be divided in two parts with rebuilding efforts beginning in the Israel occupied parts of the strip. International officials maintain that this is not part of the former US administration's proposal.