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Plans for an multinational security mission mandated by the United Nations to demilitarize the militant group in the Gaza Strip are facing increasing opposition after the United Arab Emirates announced it would not take part due to the lack of a well-defined legal structure.

Growing International Reservations

Israeli authorities have already excluded Turkish involvement, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has stated that Jordanian forces will not participate. The Azerbaijani government, once considered as a possible participant, did not attend a planning meeting in Istanbul and said it would not take part unless a full ceasefire was established.

The UAE does not yet see a defined framework for the stabilisation force and under such circumstances declines involvement, but will support all diplomatic efforts towards resolution – and stay at the vanguard of humanitarian aid.

Regional Doubts and Juridical Concerns

The Emirati announcement, made by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in the UAE capital, highlights Arab doubts about the provisions of a US-drafted resolution previously circulated to delegates at the UN in NYC. The proposal assigns responsibility on a American-led stabilisation force to be the principal means of imposing order in Gaza after Israel have left the region.

Regional governments would prefer greater duties to be assigned to a separate local law enforcement agency. International law would also prohibit external forces from entering occupied Palestine unless there was clear Palestinian consent; otherwise, the mission could be viewed as imposed under international statutes, and potentially stabilising an unlawful presence.

Palestinian Perspectives and Calls for Clarity

Jamal Nusseibeh of the ceasefire proposal said: “It is critical that the mission be sent not to reinforce the illegal presence, but to enforce international law and terminate it. The force will work as long as it enters the entire occupied territory, including the occupied territories, at the invitation of Palestine, and has a defined objective to conclude the presence within the framework of a independent state of Palestine.”

There is no reference to the occupied territories in the American proposal, or to a Palestinian state, or a two-state solution, a prospect that Israel rejects.

Ongoing Discussions and Potential Dangers

Detailed talks on the stabilisation force authority, including its command and control, began officially on Thursday in the UN headquarters, and look likely to be protracted – risking the development of a power gap in the strip that may strengthen militant factions.

The US is proposing that it lead the mission although it will not have many personnel involved on the terrain. It has already in effect taken control of the distribution of relief supplies into the territory from a recently established civil military coordination centre based in the neighboring country.

Mission Objectives and Administrative Function

The proposed American document defines the aim of the security mission as “along with the newly trained and vetted police force to help secure border areas, stabilise the safety situation in the region by ensuring the procedure of demilitarising the Gaza Strip including the elimination and prevention of rebuilding the military terror and hostile facilities as well as the permanent removal of arms from non-state armed groups”.

The mission, answerable to a “peace council” chaired by Donald Trump, and not to the United Nations, would be mandated to use “all necessary measures” to fulfill its goals.

Arab states including Qatari officials are also worried that this authority is too expansive, and if Hamas is to disarm, the group will only do so to fellow Palestinians, probably in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the Hamas perspective, marks the end of occupation.

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

Aid Aspects and Funding Issues

This “interim authority” in the strip would stay until “the local government has satisfactorily completed its reform program, the satisfaction of which shall be approved to the board of peace”, the draft says. It also “underscores the importance” of unhindered humanitarian aid in Gaza, including through the United Nations, the ICRC, and the Red Crescent.

However, it allows for the removal of “any group determined to have misused such assistance”. The wording leaves open the council excluding Unrwa, the organization that the international court of justice has said is the legal distributor of assistance.

Global Political Efforts

France 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 scheduled in the White House on the specified date, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has stated that a reference to a independent Palestine is a requirement.

The Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, held talks with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on Monday to review the PA role.

Neither the UN nor the 15-member UNSC are given a oversight function over the mission, supervising the execution of the proposal, a aspect mostly overlooked by the draft text. No details is specified about the funding of this security operation, which, as per the Americans, should be largely borne by Gulf states, with Saudi Arabia assuming primary responsibility.

Israel's Requests and Local Developments

Israeli authorities is requesting formal assurances from the US that it be allowed to follow the model of the Lebanese situation and retain the authority to re-enter the territory if it believes demilitarization is not taking place at a scale or speed it requires.

The request was put to Jared Kushner, 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 appear later the same day.

Only the remains of four of the initial hundreds of captives are still not recovered.

Separately, Israeli officials has been suggesting that the territory could yet be divided in two parts with rebuilding efforts beginning in the Israel occupied areas of the region. International officials insist that this is no part of the former US administration's proposal.