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Proposals for an multinational stabilisation force mandated by the UN to demilitarize the militant group in Gaza are facing growing resistance after the UAE announced it would not take part due to the lack of a clear legal framework.

Increasing Global Concerns

Israel have already ruled out Turkey involvement, and Jordan's King Abdullah has stated that his country's forces will not join. Azerbaijan, once mooted as a potential participant, did not attend a planning meeting in Turkey and indicated it would not take part unless a complete ceasefire was in place.

Emirati officials lacks clarity on a clear framework for the stabilisation mission and under such circumstances will not participate, but backs all diplomatic efforts towards peace – and remain at the forefront of humanitarian aid.

Regional Skepticism and Legal Issues

The UAE's 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 already circulated to diplomats at the UN in NYC. The draft assigns responsibility on a American-led stabilisation force to be the primary means of imposing security in the territory after Israeli forces have withdrawn from the region.

Regional governments would prefer greater duties to be given to a separate local civilian police force. International law would also prohibit foreign troops from entering contested Palestinian territories unless there was clear Palestinian consent; otherwise, the mission could be viewed as imposed under UN law, and arguably reinforcing an illegal Israeli occupation.

Local Perspectives and Appeals for Clarity

Jamal Nusseibeh of the Palestinian armistice plan commented: “It is critical that the force be deployed not to reinforce the illegal presence, but to uphold global standards and terminate it. The force will work as long as it operates in the whole occupied territory, including the occupied territories, at the invitation of Palestine, and has a clear objective to conclude the occupation within the context of a sovereign state of Palestine.”

The draft contains no mention to the occupied territories in the US draft resolution, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a peaceful resolution, a prospect that Israeli leadership rejects.

Continuing Discussions and Potential Risks

In-depth negotiations on the mission authority, including its leadership structure, began formally on last week in New York, and look likely to be lengthy – risking the development of a power gap in the strip that may strengthen Hamas.

The United States is proposing that it command the force although it will not have a large number of personnel involved on the terrain. It has previously in effect taken control of the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza from a new civil military coordination centre based in the neighboring country.

Mission Mandate and Governance Function

The draft American document defines the purpose of the stabilisation force as “along with the newly trained and vetted police force to help secure frontier zones, stabilise the security environment in Gaza by ensuring the process of disarming the territory including the destruction and blocking of reconstructing the militant and hostile facilities as well as the permanent removal of weapons from militant factions”.

The mission, answerable to a “board of peace” chaired by the former US president, and not to the United Nations, would be mandated to use “any required actions” to fulfill its objectives.

Regional powers including Qatar are also concerned that this mandate is too expansive, and if Hamas is to lay down arms, the group will solely do so to local counterparts, likely in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the Hamas viewpoint, marks the conclusion of Israeli presence.

They also worry the proposed authority extends to giving the stabilisation force a administrative function in the territory, a responsibility that was to be set aside for a Palestinian technocratic committee working in cooperation with a restructured local government.

Aid Considerations and Financial Questions

This “transitional governance administration” in the strip would remain until “the Palestinian Authority has satisfactorily finished its reform program, the approval of which shall be approved to the BoP”, the proposal says. It also “underscores the significance” of unhindered humanitarian aid in the territory, including through the United Nations, the ICRC, and the Red Crescent.

However, it opens the door the removal of “any organisation found to have misused such assistance”. The phrase permits the council excluding Unrwa, the organization that the international court of justice has ruled is the legal provider of assistance.

International Political Efforts

France and Saudi representatives are currently pressing for a mention to a sovereign Palestine to be added in the resolution. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the White House on 18 November, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has stated that a reference to a independent Palestine is a requirement.

The PA chair, Mahmoud Abbas, met the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on Monday to discuss the authority's function.

Neither the UN nor the 15-member UNSC are assigned a supervisory function over the stabilisation force, supervising the implementation of the proposal, a point mostly ignored by the proposed document. No details is specified about the funding of this security operation, which, as per the US officials, should be mostly covered by regional nations, with Saudi Arabia assuming primary responsibility.

Israeli Requests and Local Developments

Israeli authorities is requesting formal assurances from the US that it be permitted to follow the pattern of Lebanon and retain the right to re-enter Gaza if it believes disarmament is not occurring at a scale or pace it requires.

The request was put to the former US advisor, the ex-president's relative, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in Jerusalem on Monday to discuss developments on the ceasefire and Witkoff was due to arrive later the that day.

Only the remains of a small number of the original hundreds of captives remain not recovered.

Separately, Israeli officials has been proposing that the Gaza Strip could yet be divided in two with reconstruction work beginning in the Israel occupied parts of the region. International officials maintain that this is not part of the former US administration's proposal.