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Plans for an multinational stabilisation force mandated by the UN to demilitarize Hamas in the Gaza Strip are facing growing resistance after the United Arab Emirates announced it will not join due to the lack of a well-defined legal structure.

Increasing International Reservations

Israel have previously excluded Turkey involvement, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has declared that his country's troops will not participate. The Azerbaijani government, once considered as a possible participant, did not attend a preparatory meeting in Istanbul and indicated it would not take part unless a full ceasefire was established.

Emirati officials does not yet see a defined structure for the stability force and under such circumstances will not participate, but will support all diplomatic efforts towards peace – and stay at the vanguard of relief efforts.

Arab Skepticism and Legal Concerns

The UAE's announcement, made by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in the UAE capital, highlights Arab reservations about the provisions of a US-drafted document previously distributed to delegates at the UN in New York. The draft assigns responsibility on a American-led stabilisation force to be the principal means of imposing security in the territory after Israeli forces have left the region.

Regional governments would prefer expanded responsibilities to be given to a separate local law enforcement agency. International law would also prohibit foreign troops from entering occupied Palestinian territories unless there was explicit Palestinian consent; otherwise, the mission could be seen as imposed under international statutes, and arguably stabilising an illegal Israeli occupation.

Local Viewpoints and Appeals for Clarity

Jamal Nusseibeh of the ceasefire proposal commented: “It is critical that the mission be sent not to reinforce the unlawful presence, but to uphold global standards and end it. The force will work as long as it operates in the whole occupied territory, including the occupied territories, at the invitation of the Palestinian authorities, and has a defined goal to end the presence within the framework of a sovereign Palestinian state.”

There is no reference to the West Bank in the American proposal, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a peaceful resolution, a prospect that Israeli leadership opposes.

Ongoing Negotiations and Potential Risks

Detailed talks on the mission mandate, including its leadership structure, began formally on last week in New York, and appear to be lengthy – risking the development of a vacuum in the strip that may empower militant factions.

The US is proposing that it command the force although it will not have a large number of troops deployed on the ground. It has already effectively assumed command of the distribution of relief supplies into Gaza from a recently established logistical hub based in Israel.

Mission Mandate and Administrative Role

The proposed US resolution outlines the aim of the security mission as “together with the newly trained and screened police force to help secure frontier zones, stabilise the safety situation in Gaza by guaranteeing the process of demilitarising the territory including the elimination and prevention of rebuilding the military terror and hostile facilities as well as the permanent decommissioning of weapons from militant factions”.

The force, answerable to a “board of peace” led by Donald Trump, and not to the United Nations, would be mandated to use “any required actions” to fulfill its goals.

Regional powers including Qatari officials are also worried that this authority is overly broad, and if Hamas is to disarm, the group will solely do so to fellow Palestinians, probably in the civilian police force, at a time that, from the militant perspective, marks the end of Israeli presence.

They also worry the proposed authority spills into granting the mission a governance role in the territory, a responsibility that was to be reserved for a Palestinian technocratic committee working in cooperation with a reformed Palestinian Authority.

Aid Considerations and Financial Questions

This “transitional governance administration” in the strip would remain until “the Palestinian Authority has adequately completed its restructuring plan, the approval of which shall be approved to the BoP”, the proposal says. It also “underscores the importance” of unhindered humanitarian aid in the territory, including through the UN, the ICRC, and the humanitarian organizations.

However, it opens the door the removal of “any organisation determined to have misused such assistance”. The phrase permits the council barring the UN relief agency, the organization that the international court of justice has ruled is the lawful distributor of aid.

International Diplomatic Initiatives

French officials and Saudi representatives are currently pressing for a reference to a sovereign Palestine to be included in the resolution. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the White House on 18 November, 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 president, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on Monday to review the PA role.

Not the United Nations nor the 15-member security council are assigned a supervisory function over the stabilisation force, monitoring the implementation of the proposal, a aspect mostly ignored by the proposed document. Nothing is specified about the financing of this security operation, which, according to the Americans, should be largely borne by Gulf states, with the Kingdom assuming primary responsibility.

Israeli Requests and Regional Situations

Israel is requesting written guarantees from the United States that it be permitted to emulate the model of the Lebanese situation and retain the right to return to the territory if it believes disarmament is not taking place at a level or pace it demands.

The request 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 this week to review progress on the truce and Witkoff was due to appear later the same day.

Just the bodies of a small number of the initial 251 Israeli hostages remain not recovered.

Independently, Israeli officials has been proposing that the territory could still be divided in two with reconstruction work starting in the Israeli-controlled parts of the region. Western diplomats insist that this is not part of the former US administration's proposal.