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Plans for an international stabilisation force authorized by the United Nations to disarm the militant group in the Gaza Strip are facing growing resistance after the UAE announced it will not take part due to the absence of a clear legal framework.

Growing Global Concerns

Israeli authorities have previously ruled out Turkish involvement, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has declared that Jordanian forces will not join. Azerbaijan, previously considered as a possible participant, did not attend a planning meeting in Istanbul and said it would not take part unless a full truce was established.

The UAE lacks clarity on a clear framework for the stabilisation mission and under such circumstances declines involvement, but will support all diplomatic 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 conference in Abu Dhabi, highlights regional reservations about the provisions of a US-drafted document previously distributed to diplomats at the UN in NYC. The draft places an onus on a American-led stabilisation force to be the primary means of ensuring order in the territory after Israel have left the region.

Arab states would prefer expanded 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 clear local approval; otherwise, the force could be seen as coercive under UN law, and arguably reinforcing an unlawful Israeli occupation.

Local Viewpoints and Appeals for Definition

A Palestinian American co-author of the Palestinian armistice plan commented: “It is critical that the force be deployed not to reinforce the illegal Israeli occupation, but to uphold global standards and end it. The mission will succeed as long as it operates in the whole occupied territory, including the West Bank, at the invitation of the Palestinian authorities, and has a clear objective to conclude the occupation within the framework of a sovereign state of Palestine.”

The draft contains no reference to the West Bank in the US draft resolution, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a peaceful resolution, a prospect that Israeli leadership opposes.

Continuing Negotiations and Possible Dangers

Detailed talks on the mission authority, including its leadership structure, started formally on Thursday in the UN headquarters, and appear to be lengthy – potentially creating the development of a power gap in Gaza that may strengthen Hamas.

The United States is proposing that it command the force although it will not have a large number of troops deployed on the terrain. It has already effectively assumed command of the delivery of relief supplies into Gaza from a new logistical hub based in the neighboring country.

Mission Mandate and Governance Role

The proposed American document outlines the purpose of the stabilisation force as “together with the recently prepared and screened police force to assist in protecting frontier zones, secure the safety situation in Gaza by guaranteeing the procedure of demilitarising the territory including the elimination and prevention of reconstructing the militant and offensive infrastructure as well as the permanent removal of arms from non-state armed groups”.

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

Regional powers including Qatari officials are also concerned that this mandate is overly broad, and if Hamas is to lay down arms, the faction will solely do so to fellow Palestinians, likely in the civilian police force, at a moment that, from the Hamas perspective, signifies the end of occupation.

They also fear the draft mandate spills into granting the mission a administrative role in Gaza, a responsibility that was to be set aside for a Palestinian technocratic committee working in cooperation with a restructured Palestinian Authority.

Humanitarian Aspects and Financial Questions

This “interim authority” in the strip would stay until “the local government has adequately completed its restructuring plan, the satisfaction of which shall be approved to the BoP”, the draft says. It also “emphasizes the significance” of full humanitarian aid in Gaza, including through the United Nations, the ICRC, and the Red Crescent.

Nonetheless, it allows for the exclusion of “any organisation found to have misused such aid”. The wording permits the council excluding Unrwa, the body that the global judicial body has said is the legal distributor of aid.

Global Diplomatic Initiatives

French officials and Saudi Arabia are currently advocating for a reference to a Palestinian state to be included in the document. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the US presidential residence on the specified date, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has said that a reference to a Palestinian state 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.

Not the UN nor the 15-member UNSC are assigned a supervisory function over the stabilisation force, supervising the execution of the resolution, a aspect mostly overlooked by the draft text. Nothing is specified about the funding of this stabilisation mission, which, according to the Americans, should be mostly borne by Gulf states, with Saudi Arabia assuming primary responsibility.

Israeli Requests and Regional Situations

Israel is seeking formal assurances from the US that it be permitted to emulate the model of Lebanon and retain the right to re-enter the territory if it believes demilitarization is not occurring at a level or speed it demands.

The Israeli proposal was put to the former US advisor, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in the Israeli capital on this week to discuss developments on the ceasefire and Witkoff was scheduled to appear subsequently the same day.

Only the remains of a small number of the initial hundreds of captives are still not recovered.

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