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Plans for an international security mission mandated by the UN to disarm the militant group in the Gaza Strip are encountering increasing resistance after the UAE announced it will not join due to the absence of a clear legal structure.

Increasing International Reservations

Israeli authorities have already excluded Turkey involvement, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has stated that Jordanian forces will not participate. Azerbaijan, previously mooted as a potential contributor, was absent from a planning meeting in Turkey and said it would not take part unless a full ceasefire was in place.

Emirati officials lacks clarity on a defined framework for the stability mission and in this situation will not participate, but will support all diplomatic initiatives towards resolution – and remain at the vanguard of relief efforts.

Regional Doubts and Legal Concerns

The Emirati decision, made by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in Abu Dhabi, reflects Arab doubts about the provisions of a American-proposed document previously circulated to delegates at the UN in NYC. The proposal places an onus on a American-led security mission to be the primary means of imposing order in Gaza after Israel have left the territory.

Regional governments would like greater responsibilities to be assigned to a separate local civilian police force. International law would also prohibit external forces from deploying into occupied Palestinian territories unless there was clear Palestinian consent; without it, the force could be viewed as imposed under international statutes, and potentially stabilising an unlawful presence.

Palestinian Viewpoints and Calls for Definition

Jamal Nusseibeh of the Palestinian armistice plan commented: “It is critical that the mission be sent not to reinforce the unlawful presence, but to enforce international law and end it. The force will work as long as it enters the entire disputed land, including the West Bank, at the invitation of the Palestinian authorities, and has a defined objective to conclude the presence within the framework of a independent Palestinian state.”

There is no reference to the occupied territories in the US draft resolution, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a two-state solution, a outcome that Israel opposes.

Continuing Discussions and Potential Dangers

Detailed talks on the stabilisation force authority, including its command and control, began formally on Thursday in New York, and appear to be lengthy – potentially creating the development of a vacuum in the strip that may strengthen Hamas.

The United States is suggesting that it lead the mission although it will not have a large number of personnel deployed on the ground. It has already in effect assumed command of the distribution of relief supplies into the territory from a new logistical hub based in Israel.

Mission Mandate and Governance Function

The draft US resolution defines the aim of the stabilisation force as “along with the recently prepared and vetted police force to assist in protecting frontier zones, secure the security environment in the region by ensuring the procedure of disarming the territory including the elimination and blocking of reconstructing the military terror and hostile facilities as well as the lasting removal of arms from militant factions”.

The force, reporting to a “peace council” chaired by the former US president, and not to the United Nations, would be mandated to use “all necessary measures” to achieve its goals.

Arab states including Qatari officials are also concerned that this mandate is overly broad, and if the group is to lay down arms, the group will only do so to fellow Palestinians, likely in the local law enforcement, at a time that, from the militant perspective, signifies the end of occupation.

They also fear the proposed authority spills into giving the stabilisation force a administrative role in Gaza, a task that was to be reserved for a local technocratic committee working in conjunction with a reformed local government.

Aid Aspects and Funding Questions

This “interim authority” in Gaza would stay 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 the territory, including through the UN, the ICRC, and the Red Crescent.

Nonetheless, it opens the door the exclusion of “any group found to have improperly used such aid”. The phrase permits the council barring Unrwa, the organization that the international court of justice has said is the lawful distributor of aid.

Global Diplomatic Initiatives

France and Saudi representatives are already pressing for a mention to a sovereign Palestine to be included in the document. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the US presidential residence on 18 November, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has stated that a reference to a independent Palestine is a prerequisite.

The PA chair, Mahmoud Abbas, held talks with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on this week to review the authority's function.

Not the United Nations nor the 15-member UNSC are assigned a oversight function over the stabilisation force, supervising the execution of the proposal, a point mostly overlooked by the proposed document. Nothing is outlined about the financing of this security operation, which, as per the Americans, should be largely covered by regional nations, with the Kingdom assuming primary responsibility.

Israel's Demands and Local Situations

Israeli authorities is seeking formal assurances from the US that it be permitted to emulate the model of Lebanon and retain the right to re-enter Gaza if it considers demilitarization is not taking place at a level or speed it demands.

The request was put to the former US advisor, the ex-president's son-in-law, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in the Israeli capital on this week to review progress on the truce and Witkoff was scheduled to appear subsequently the same day.

Just the remains of a small number of the initial 251 Israeli hostages are still unreturned.

Independently, Israel has been suggesting that the Gaza Strip could still be divided in two with reconstruction work beginning in the Israel occupied parts of the region. Western diplomats maintain that this is not part of the former US administration's proposal.