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Proposals for an multinational stabilisation force mandated by the UN to demilitarize the militant group in the Gaza Strip are encountering growing opposition after the United Arab Emirates stated it will not take part due to the lack of a well-defined legal framework.

Increasing International Concerns

Israeli authorities have previously ruled out Turkey participation, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has declared that his country's forces will not join. The Azerbaijani government, previously considered as a potential participant, did not attend a planning session in Istanbul and indicated it would not take part unless a complete ceasefire was in place.

Emirati officials lacks clarity on a defined framework for the stability force and under such circumstances declines involvement, but will support all political efforts towards peace – and stay at the forefront of relief efforts.

Regional Doubts and Legal Concerns

The Emirati decision, made by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in Abu Dhabi, highlights regional reservations about the provisions of a American-proposed document previously distributed to diplomats at the UN in NYC. The proposal assigns responsibility on a US-directed security mission to be the principal means of imposing order in the territory after Israeli forces have left the territory.

Arab states would like expanded duties to be given to a separate Palestinian law enforcement agency. Global jurisprudence would also prohibit foreign troops from deploying into occupied Palestine unless there was clear Palestinian consent; without it, the mission could be seen as imposed under international statutes, and arguably stabilising an unlawful Israeli occupation.

Local Viewpoints and Calls for Definition

A Palestinian American co-author of the Palestinian armistice plan said: “It is critical that the mission be deployed not to reinforce the illegal Israeli occupation, but to enforce global standards and terminate it. The force will succeed as long as it operates in the entire disputed land, including the occupied territories, at the invitation of the Palestinian authorities, and has a clear goal to conclude the occupation within the context of a independent Palestinian state.”

The draft contains no reference to the occupied territories in the US draft resolution, or to a Palestinian state, or a two-state solution, a outcome that Israel rejects.

Ongoing Discussions and Potential Dangers

Detailed talks on the mission authority, including its command and control, began formally on last week in New York, and look likely to be protracted – potentially creating the emergence of a power gap in Gaza that may strengthen Hamas.

The US is proposing that it lead the force although it will not have a large number of personnel involved on the ground. It has previously effectively taken control of the distribution of relief supplies into the territory from a new civil military coordination centre based in Israel.

Mission Mandate and Governance Function

The draft American document defines the aim of the stabilisation force as “along with the recently prepared and screened police force to help secure border areas, secure the security environment in the region by ensuring the process of demilitarising the territory including the destruction and blocking of rebuilding the militant and offensive infrastructure as well as the permanent decommissioning of arms from non-state armed groups”.

The mission, 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 achieve its goals.

Arab states including Qatari officials are also worried that this mandate is too expansive, and if Hamas is to lay down arms, the group will only do so to local counterparts, likely in the local law enforcement, at a time that, from the Hamas viewpoint, marks the end of Israeli presence.

They also worry the draft mandate extends to granting the mission a governance function in the territory, a responsibility that was to be reserved for a Palestinian technocratic committee working in conjunction with a reformed Palestinian Authority.

Aid Aspects and Funding Issues

This “transitional governance administration” in the strip would remain until “the Palestinian Authority has adequately finished its reform program, the satisfaction of which shall be approved to the BoP”, the proposal states. It also “underscores the importance” of unhindered relief in Gaza, including through the UN, the ICRC, and the Red Crescent.

However, it opens the door the exclusion of “any group determined to have improperly used such assistance”. The phrase permits the board of peace barring Unrwa, the organization that the global judicial body has ruled is the legal distributor of aid.

Global Diplomatic Efforts

France and Saudi representatives are currently advocating for a mention to a Palestinian state to be included in the document. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the White House on the specified date, and Manal Radwan has said that a reference to a Palestinian state is a prerequisite.

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

Neither the United Nations nor the 15 strong UNSC are given a supervisory role over the stabilisation force, supervising the implementation of the proposal, a point mostly overlooked by the draft text. Nothing is specified about the financing of this security operation, which, according to the Americans, should be mostly borne by regional nations, with Saudi Arabia assuming primary responsibility.

Israel's Demands and Regional Situations

Israel is requesting formal assurances from the US that it be permitted to follow the pattern of the Lebanese situation and retain the right to re-enter the territory if it believes disarmament is not taking place at a level or pace it requires.

The request was presented to Jared Kushner, the ex-president's relative, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in the Israeli capital on Monday to review progress on the truce and the envoy was scheduled to appear subsequently the same day.

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

Independently, Israeli officials has been suggesting that the territory 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.