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Proposals for an international security mission mandated by the UN to demilitarize Hamas in the Gaza Strip are encountering increasing resistance after the UAE stated it would not join due to the absence of a clear legal structure.

Growing International Concerns

Israel have already excluded Turkish involvement, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has declared that his country's troops will not participate. Azerbaijan, previously considered as a potential participant, was absent from a planning session in Turkey and said it would not contribute unless a full ceasefire was established.

Emirati officials does not yet see a clear structure for the stability mission and in this situation declines involvement, but backs all diplomatic initiatives towards resolution – and stay at the forefront of relief efforts.

Regional Doubts and Legal Concerns

The Emirati decision, delivered by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in the UAE capital, reflects Arab reservations about the terms of a American-proposed resolution previously distributed to delegates at the UN in NYC. The proposal places an onus on a US-directed security mission to be the primary means of ensuring order in Gaza after Israeli forces have withdrawn from the territory.

Arab states would prefer greater responsibilities to be given to a separate local civilian police force. Global jurisprudence would also prohibit external forces from entering contested Palestinian territories unless there was explicit local approval; otherwise, the mission could be seen as coercive under international statutes, and potentially stabilising an illegal Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Viewpoints and Calls for Definition

A Palestinian American co-author of the Palestinian armistice plan commented: “It is essential that the force be sent not to stabilise the illegal Israeli occupation, but to enforce global standards and end it. The mission will succeed as long as it enters the whole disputed land, including the West Bank, at the request of the Palestinian authorities, and has a defined goal to conclude the presence within the framework of a sovereign Palestinian state.”

The draft contains no reference to the occupied territories in the American proposal, or to a Palestinian state, or a two-state solution, a outcome that Israeli leadership rejects.

Ongoing Negotiations and Potential Dangers

In-depth talks on the mission authority, including its command and control, began officially on last week in the UN headquarters, and look likely to be lengthy – potentially creating the emergence 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 involved on the ground. It has already effectively taken control of the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza from a new logistical hub based in Israel.

Mission Mandate and Administrative Role

The draft American document outlines the aim of the stabilisation force as “along with the newly trained and vetted law enforcement to assist in protecting frontier zones, secure the security environment in Gaza by ensuring the process of disarming the territory including the destruction and blocking of reconstructing the military terror and hostile facilities as well as the permanent removal of arms from militant factions”.

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

Regional powers including Qatar are also concerned that this mandate is overly broad, and if the group is to disarm, the faction will solely do so to fellow Palestinians, likely in the civilian police force, at a time that, from the militant viewpoint, marks the conclusion of Israeli presence.

They also fear the draft mandate extends to giving the mission a administrative function in the territory, a responsibility that was to be set aside for a Palestinian technocratic committee working in conjunction with a reformed local government.

Aid Considerations and Financial Issues

This “interim authority” in Gaza would remain until “the local government has satisfactorily completed its restructuring plan, the approval of which shall be acceptable to the board of peace”, the draft states. It also “emphasizes the importance” of unhindered humanitarian aid in the territory, 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 board of peace barring the UN relief agency, the organization that the global judicial body has said is the legal provider of assistance.

International Diplomatic Initiatives

France and Saudi Arabia are already advocating for a reference to a sovereign Palestine to be included in the document. The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the White House on the specified date, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has stated that a reference to a Palestinian state is a requirement.

The PA chair, Mahmoud Abbas, met the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on Monday to discuss the authority's function.

Not the UN nor the 15 strong UNSC are assigned a oversight role over the mission, supervising the execution of the resolution, a point mostly ignored by the proposed document. No details is outlined about the funding of this security operation, which, as per the Americans, should be largely covered by Gulf states, with the Kingdom taking the lead.

Israeli Demands and Regional Situations

Israeli authorities is requesting written guarantees from the US that it be permitted to emulate the pattern of the Lebanese situation and reserve the right to return to Gaza if it believes disarmament is not occurring at a scale or speed it requires.

The Israeli proposal was presented to the former US advisor, the ex-president's son-in-law, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in Jerusalem on Monday to discuss progress on the ceasefire and the envoy was scheduled to appear later the same day.

Just the bodies of four of the original 251 Israeli hostages are still not recovered.

Separately, Israeli officials has been suggesting that the territory could yet be split in two parts with rebuilding efforts beginning in the Israeli-controlled areas of the strip. Western diplomats insist that this is no part of the former US administration's proposal.