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Plans for an multinational security mission authorized by the United Nations to demilitarize Hamas in Gaza are encountering increasing resistance after the United Arab Emirates announced it would not take part due to the lack of a well-defined legal framework.

Growing Global Concerns

Israel have already ruled out Turkey participation, and Jordan's King Abdullah has stated that Jordanian forces will not join. Azerbaijan, previously considered as a possible contributor, was absent from a planning session in Istanbul and indicated it would not contribute unless a complete ceasefire was established.

The UAE does not yet see a clear structure for the stability mission and under such circumstances will not participate, but will support all political initiatives towards peace – and stay at the vanguard of relief efforts.

Regional Skepticism and Legal Concerns

The UAE's decision, made by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in the UAE capital, reflects regional doubts about the terms of a US-drafted resolution previously circulated to diplomats at the UN in NYC. The draft assigns responsibility on a US-directed stabilisation force to be the primary means of imposing security in the territory after Israel have left the region.

Regional governments would prefer greater duties to be assigned to a separate Palestinian law enforcement agency. International law would also prohibit external forces from deploying into contested Palestine unless there was explicit Palestinian consent; otherwise, the mission could be seen as imposed under UN law, and arguably stabilising an illegal Israeli occupation.

Local Perspectives and Calls for Clarity

A Palestinian American co-author of the ceasefire proposal said: “It is essential that the mission be sent not to stabilise the unlawful Israeli occupation, but to uphold global standards and end it. The force will succeed as long as it enters the whole occupied territory, including the occupied territories, at the invitation of Palestine, and has a defined goal to conclude the occupation within the framework of a sovereign Palestinian state.”

The draft contains no reference to the occupied territories in the US draft resolution, 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 stabilisation force authority, including its leadership structure, began officially on last week in New York, and look likely to be protracted – risking the development of a vacuum in the strip that may empower Hamas.

The US is suggesting that it command the mission although it will not have many personnel deployed on the terrain. It has already in effect taken control of the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza from a new logistical hub based in the neighboring country.

Mission Mandate and Governance Role

The draft US resolution outlines 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 ensuring the process of demilitarising the territory including the elimination and blocking of reconstructing the military terror and offensive infrastructure as well as the permanent removal of arms from non-state armed groups”.

The mission, answerable to a “board of peace” chaired by Donald Trump, and not to the UN, would be required to use “all necessary measures” to achieve its goals.

Arab states including Qatar are also concerned that this authority is too expansive, and if Hamas is to lay down arms, the faction will solely do so to local counterparts, probably in the local law enforcement, at a time that, from the Hamas perspective, marks the conclusion of Israeli presence.

They also fear the draft mandate spills into granting the stabilisation force a governance role in Gaza, a task that was to be set aside for a local technocratic committee working in conjunction with a reformed local government.

Humanitarian Considerations and Funding Issues

This “transitional governance administration” in Gaza would remain until “the local government has adequately finished its reform program, the satisfaction of which shall be approved to the board of peace”, the draft says. It also “emphasizes the importance” of full relief in Gaza, including through the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the humanitarian organizations.

However, it allows for the exclusion of “any organisation found to have improperly used such assistance”. The phrase leaves open the council barring the UN relief agency, the body that the global judicial body has ruled is the legal provider of assistance.

Global Diplomatic Initiatives

French officials and Saudi representatives are currently pressing for a reference to a Palestinian state to be included in the document. The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the US presidential residence on 18 November, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has stated that a reference to a Palestinian state is a prerequisite.

The Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, held talks with the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on Monday to review the authority's function.

Not the UN nor the 15 strong security council are assigned a supervisory role over the mission, monitoring the implementation of the resolution, a point largely overlooked by the proposed document. Nothing is specified about the financing of this stabilisation mission, which, according to the US officials, should be mostly covered by Gulf states, with the Kingdom assuming primary responsibility.

Israel's Demands and Local Situations

Israeli authorities is requesting formal assurances from the United States that it be permitted to follow the model of the Lebanese situation and reserve the right to return to Gaza if it believes disarmament is not taking place at a level or pace it requires.

The Israeli proposal was put to the former US advisor, Donald Trump’s relative, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in the Israeli capital on Monday to review progress on the truce and Witkoff was scheduled to appear subsequently the that day.

Just the bodies of a small number of the original hundreds of captives remain unreturned.

Separately, Israel has been suggesting that the Gaza Strip could yet be divided in two with rebuilding efforts beginning in the Israel occupied areas of the strip. Western diplomats maintain that this is not part of the former US administration's proposal.