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Plans for an international security mission authorized by the United Nations to disarm the militant group in Gaza are encountering growing opposition after the UAE stated it will not join due to the lack of a well-defined legal framework.

Increasing Global Reservations

Israeli authorities have previously ruled out Turkish participation, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has declared that Jordanian forces will not participate. Azerbaijan, once considered as a possible contributor, was absent from a planning meeting in Istanbul and indicated it would not contribute unless a full ceasefire was in place.

Emirati officials lacks clarity on a clear framework for the stabilisation mission and under such circumstances declines involvement, but will support all political initiatives towards resolution – and remain at the vanguard of humanitarian aid.

Regional Skepticism and Legal Issues

The UAE's announcement, made by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in Abu Dhabi, highlights regional reservations about the terms of a American-proposed document previously circulated to diplomats at the UN in NYC. The draft places an onus on a US-directed security mission to be the primary means of imposing security in the territory after Israel have withdrawn from the territory.

Arab states would prefer greater duties to be assigned to a separate Palestinian law enforcement agency. International law would also prohibit external forces from entering contested Palestinian territories unless there was explicit Palestinian consent; without it, the mission could be viewed as coercive under international statutes, and potentially stabilising an unlawful presence.

Palestinian Viewpoints and Calls for Clarity

Jamal Nusseibeh of the ceasefire proposal commented: “It is essential that the force be deployed not to reinforce the unlawful Israeli occupation, but to uphold global standards and terminate it. The force will succeed as long as it enters the whole occupied territory, including the West Bank, at the invitation of the Palestinian authorities, and has a clear goal to conclude the presence within the framework of a sovereign state of Palestine.”

There is no reference to the West Bank in the American proposal, or to a Palestinian state, or a peaceful resolution, a outcome that Israeli leadership opposes.

Ongoing Negotiations and Potential Dangers

In-depth negotiations on the mission mandate, including its command and control, began officially on Thursday in the UN headquarters, and appear to be lengthy – potentially creating the emergence of a vacuum in Gaza that may empower Hamas.

The United States is proposing that it command the force although it will not have a large number of troops involved on the ground. It has already in effect assumed command of the delivery of humanitarian aid into the territory from a new civil military coordination centre based in Israel.

Force Mandate and Administrative Function

The draft American document outlines the aim of the stabilisation force as “together with the recently prepared and vetted police force to assist in protecting border areas, secure the safety situation in the region by ensuring the process of disarming the territory including the destruction and prevention of reconstructing the militant and offensive infrastructure as well as the lasting decommissioning of weapons from militant factions”.

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

Arab states including Qatari officials are also concerned that this authority is overly broad, and if the group is to lay down arms, the faction will only do so to local counterparts, probably in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the militant perspective, marks the end of occupation.

They also worry the proposed authority spills into granting the stabilisation force a governance function in Gaza, a task that was to be reserved for a Palestinian expert panel working in conjunction with a reformed Palestinian Authority.

Aid Considerations and Funding Questions

This “transitional governance administration” in the strip would remain until “the local government has satisfactorily completed its restructuring plan, the satisfaction of which shall be approved to the BoP”, the proposal states. It also “emphasizes the significance” of full humanitarian aid in the territory, including through the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Red Crescent.

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

International Political Efforts

French officials and Saudi representatives are currently pressing for a reference to a sovereign Palestine to be added in the resolution. The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the White House on the specified date, and Manal Radwan has said that a reference to a independent Palestine is a prerequisite.

The Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, met the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on this week to review the authority's function.

Not the United Nations nor the 15-member security council are assigned a supervisory role over the mission, monitoring the implementation of the resolution, a aspect largely overlooked by the draft text. No details is specified about the financing of this security operation, which, as per the Americans, should be mostly borne by Gulf states, with the Kingdom assuming primary responsibility.

Israel's Demands and Regional Developments

Israel is requesting written guarantees from the United States that it be permitted to follow the pattern of Lebanon and retain the authority to return to Gaza if it believes disarmament is not occurring at a scale or speed it demands.

The request was put to Jared Kushner, the ex-president's son-in-law, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in Jerusalem on Monday to review developments on the truce and Witkoff was scheduled to arrive later the that day.

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

Separately, Israel has been suggesting that the Gaza Strip could still be split in two with reconstruction work beginning in the Israeli-controlled parts of the region. Western diplomats maintain that this is no part of the former US administration's proposal.