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Proposals for an international stabilisation force mandated by the United Nations to demilitarize Hamas in Gaza are facing growing opposition after the United Arab Emirates announced it would not join due to the lack of a well-defined legal structure.

Increasing Global Concerns

Israel have previously excluded Turkey participation, and Jordan's King Abdullah has stated that Jordanian troops will not participate. Azerbaijan, previously mooted as a potential contributor, was absent from a planning session in Istanbul and indicated it would not take part unless a complete truce was established.

Emirati officials lacks clarity on a defined structure for the stabilisation force and in this situation declines involvement, but will support all diplomatic efforts towards peace – and remain at the vanguard of humanitarian aid.

Regional Doubts and Legal Issues

The Emirati announcement, made by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in the UAE capital, highlights Arab doubts about the terms of a US-drafted resolution already distributed to delegates at the UN in NYC. The proposal places an onus on a American-led security mission to be the primary means of ensuring security in the territory after Israel have withdrawn from the territory.

Arab states would like greater duties to be assigned to a separate Palestinian civilian police force. Global jurisprudence would also forbid foreign troops from entering contested Palestinian territories unless there was explicit local approval; otherwise, the force could be viewed as coercive under international statutes, and arguably reinforcing an unlawful Israeli occupation.

Local Viewpoints and Calls for Clarity

Jamal Nusseibeh of the Palestinian armistice plan said: “It is critical that the force be sent not to reinforce the unlawful presence, but to enforce global standards and end it. The mission will work as long as it enters 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 framework of a sovereign state of Palestine.”

The draft contains no mention 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 Potential Risks

In-depth negotiations on the mission mandate, including its command and control, began officially on last week in New York, and appear to be lengthy – risking the emergence of a vacuum in Gaza that may strengthen militant factions.

The US is suggesting that it command the force although it will not have many personnel involved on the ground. It has previously in effect assumed command of the delivery of relief supplies into Gaza from a recently established civil military coordination centre based in Israel.

Mission Objectives and Administrative Function

The proposed American document defines the aim of the stabilisation force as “together with the newly trained and vetted law enforcement to help secure frontier zones, secure the security environment in the region by guaranteeing the process of demilitarising the territory including the destruction and prevention of rebuilding the militant and hostile facilities as well as the permanent decommissioning of weapons from militant factions”.

The force, reporting to a “board of peace” led by the former US president, and not to the UN, would be mandated to use “any required actions” to fulfill its objectives.

Regional powers including Qatar are also concerned that this authority is too expansive, and if Hamas is to disarm, the group will only do so to local counterparts, likely in the civilian police force, at a time that, from the militant perspective, marks the end of Israeli presence.

They also fear the proposed authority spills into granting the mission a administrative function in Gaza, a task that was to be set aside for a local technocratic committee working in cooperation with a restructured Palestinian Authority.

Aid Aspects and Financial Issues

This “interim authority” in Gaza would stay until “the Palestinian Authority has satisfactorily completed its restructuring plan, the satisfaction of which shall be approved to the board of peace”, the draft states. It also “emphasizes the significance” of unhindered humanitarian aid in Gaza, including through the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the humanitarian organizations.

However, it opens the door the exclusion of “any group determined to have misused such assistance”. The phrase permits the council excluding Unrwa, the body that the global judicial body has said is the lawful distributor of aid.

Global Diplomatic Efforts

France and Saudi Arabia are already advocating for a reference to a sovereign Palestine to be included in the document. The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the White House on the specified date, and Manal Radwan has stated that a reference 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 review the authority's function.

Neither the United Nations nor the 15 strong UNSC are assigned a supervisory role over the mission, monitoring the implementation of the proposal, a aspect mostly ignored by the draft text. Nothing is outlined about the financing of this security operation, which, as per the Americans, should be mostly borne by Gulf states, with Saudi Arabia assuming primary responsibility.

Israeli Demands and Regional Situations

Israeli authorities is seeking written guarantees from the United States that it be permitted to emulate the pattern of Lebanon and retain the right to return to the territory if it considers disarmament is not taking place at a level or pace it requires.

The Israeli proposal was put to the former US advisor, the ex-president's son-in-law, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in the Israeli capital on Monday to discuss progress on the truce and the envoy was scheduled to arrive later the same day.

Just the bodies of four of the original 251 Israeli hostages are still unreturned.

Separately, Israeli officials has been proposing that the Gaza Strip could yet be split in two parts with reconstruction work starting in the Israeli-controlled parts of the region. Western diplomats insist that this is no part of the Trump plan.