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Plans for an multinational security mission mandated by the United Nations to disarm Hamas in Gaza are encountering increasing opposition after the United Arab Emirates stated it would not join due to the absence of a clear legal framework.

Increasing International Reservations

Israel have already excluded Turkey participation, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has stated that his country's forces will not join. Azerbaijan, once mooted as a possible contributor, did not attend a planning session in Istanbul and indicated it would not contribute unless a full ceasefire was in place.

Emirati officials lacks clarity on a clear framework for the stabilisation force and in this situation declines involvement, but will support all political efforts towards peace – and stay at the vanguard of relief efforts.

Regional Doubts and Juridical Concerns

The Emirati announcement, delivered by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in Abu Dhabi, highlights regional reservations about the provisions of a US-drafted document previously distributed to diplomats at the UN in NYC. The proposal places an onus on a US-directed security mission to be the principal means of ensuring security in Gaza after Israeli forces have left the region.

Regional governments would prefer greater duties to be assigned to a separate Palestinian civilian police force. Global jurisprudence would also prohibit foreign troops from deploying into contested Palestine unless there was explicit local approval; otherwise, the mission could be viewed as coercive under international statutes, and arguably stabilising an illegal presence.

Local Perspectives and Calls for Clarity

A Palestinian American co-author of the ceasefire proposal commented: “It is critical that the force be sent not to stabilise the unlawful Israeli occupation, but to uphold international law and terminate it. The force will work as long as it operates in the whole occupied territory, including the occupied territories, at the request of Palestine, and has a defined goal to conclude the occupation within the framework of a sovereign state of Palestine.”

There is no mention to the West Bank in the US draft resolution, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a peaceful resolution, a outcome that Israel opposes.

Continuing Discussions and Potential Risks

Detailed talks on the stabilisation force authority, including its leadership structure, started formally on Thursday in New York, and look likely to be protracted – potentially creating the emergence of a power gap in the strip that may empower militant factions.

The United States is proposing that it command the mission although it will not have many personnel involved on the terrain. It has previously in effect assumed command of the distribution of humanitarian aid into Gaza from a recently established civil military coordination centre based in the neighboring country.

Mission Mandate and Administrative Function

The draft US resolution outlines the aim of the security mission as “together with the newly trained and vetted police force to help secure frontier zones, stabilise the security environment in Gaza by ensuring the procedure of disarming the territory including the destruction and blocking of rebuilding the military terror and offensive infrastructure as well as the lasting decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups”.

The force, reporting to a “peace council” chaired by the former US president, and not to the UN, would be mandated to use “all necessary measures” to achieve its objectives.

Arab states including Qatari officials are also worried that this authority is too expansive, and if Hamas is to disarm, the group will only do so to fellow Palestinians, probably in the local law enforcement, at a time that, from the Hamas viewpoint, marks the conclusion of occupation.

They also fear the draft mandate extends to giving the stabilisation force a administrative function in the territory, a task that was to be reserved for a Palestinian expert panel working in cooperation with a reformed Palestinian Authority.

Aid Considerations and Funding Questions

This “interim authority” in the strip would remain until “the local government has adequately finished its restructuring plan, the satisfaction of which shall be approved to the BoP”, the proposal says. It also “underscores the significance” of full humanitarian aid in the territory, including through the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the humanitarian organizations.

However, it opens the door the exclusion of “any group found to have misused such aid”. The wording leaves open the council barring Unrwa, the body that the global judicial body has ruled is the legal provider of assistance.

Global Diplomatic Efforts

French officials and Saudi representatives are currently advocating for a reference to a Palestinian state to be added in the resolution. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the US presidential residence on the specified date, and Manal Radwan has stated that a reference to a Palestinian state is a prerequisite.

The Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, held talks with the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on this week to discuss the authority's function.

Neither the United Nations nor the 15 strong UNSC are given a oversight function over the mission, monitoring the execution of the resolution, a aspect mostly overlooked by the draft text. No details is outlined about the financing of this stabilisation mission, which, according to the US officials, should be largely borne by Gulf states, with the Kingdom assuming primary responsibility.

Israeli Demands and Local Situations

Israeli authorities is seeking formal assurances from the United States that it be allowed to emulate the model of the Lebanese situation and retain the right to return to the territory if it considers disarmament is not taking place at a scale or speed it requires.

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 due to arrive subsequently the that day.

Just the bodies of four of the original 251 Israeli hostages remain not recovered.

Independently, Israeli officials has been proposing that the Gaza Strip could yet be split in two with rebuilding efforts starting in the Israeli-controlled areas of the region. International officials insist that this is not part of the former US administration's proposal.