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Plans for an international stabilisation force authorized by the UN to disarm Hamas in the Gaza Strip are encountering increasing resistance after the UAE announced it will not join due to the lack of a well-defined legal framework.

Increasing International Reservations

Israeli authorities have already ruled out Turkey participation, and Jordan's King Abdullah has declared that his country's troops will not participate. The Azerbaijani government, once considered as a potential participant, did not attend a planning meeting in Istanbul and said it would not contribute unless a complete ceasefire was in place.

The UAE lacks clarity on a defined structure for the stabilisation mission and in this situation will not participate, but backs all political efforts towards peace – and stay at the forefront of humanitarian aid.

Regional Skepticism and Juridical Issues

The UAE's decision, delivered by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in the UAE capital, reflects Arab doubts about the terms of a American-proposed resolution previously distributed to delegates at the UN in NYC. The draft assigns responsibility on a American-led stabilisation force to be the principal means of ensuring order in the territory after Israeli forces have withdrawn from the territory.

Arab states would like greater duties to be given to a separate local law enforcement agency. Global jurisprudence would also forbid external forces from entering contested Palestinian territories unless there was clear Palestinian consent; otherwise, the mission could be seen as coercive under UN law, and arguably stabilising an illegal Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Perspectives and Appeals for Clarity

Jamal Nusseibeh of the Palestinian armistice plan commented: “It is essential that the mission be deployed not to stabilise the unlawful presence, but to enforce global standards and terminate it. The mission will succeed as long as it enters the whole disputed land, including the occupied territories, at the request of the Palestinian authorities, and has a clear objective to conclude the presence within the framework of a independent state of Palestine.”

There is no mention to the occupied territories in the American proposal, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a peaceful resolution, a prospect that Israel opposes.

Ongoing Negotiations and Possible Dangers

Detailed talks on the mission authority, including its command and control, began formally on Thursday in New York, and look likely to be lengthy – risking the emergence of a vacuum in Gaza that may strengthen Hamas.

The US is suggesting that it command the force although it will not have many personnel involved on the terrain. It has already in effect taken control of the delivery of relief supplies into the territory from a recently established civil military coordination centre based in Israel.

Force Mandate and Administrative Role

The draft American document defines the purpose of the stabilisation force as “along with the newly trained and screened police force to assist in protecting frontier zones, stabilise the safety situation in Gaza by ensuring the process of demilitarising the Gaza Strip including the destruction and blocking of rebuilding the militant and hostile facilities as well as the lasting decommissioning of arms from non-state armed groups”.

The force, reporting to a “board of peace” led by Donald Trump, and not to the United Nations, would be mandated to use “any required actions” to achieve its objectives.

Regional powers including Qatar are also worried that this authority is overly broad, and if the group is to lay down arms, the group will solely do so to local counterparts, probably in the local law enforcement, at a time that, from the militant viewpoint, marks the end of occupation.

They also fear the proposed authority extends to giving the stabilisation force a administrative role in the territory, a task that was to be set aside for a Palestinian expert panel working in conjunction with a reformed Palestinian Authority.

Humanitarian Considerations and Funding Questions

This “interim authority” in Gaza would remain until “the local government has satisfactorily finished its restructuring plan, the approval of which shall be approved to the BoP”, the proposal says. It also “underscores the significance” of unhindered relief in Gaza, including through the UN, the ICRC, and the humanitarian organizations.

Nonetheless, it opens the door the exclusion of “any group found to have misused such assistance”. The phrase leaves open the council excluding Unrwa, the organization that the international court of justice has said is the lawful provider of assistance.

Global Diplomatic Initiatives

French officials and Saudi representatives are already pressing for a mention to a sovereign Palestine to be included in the resolution. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the White House on 18 November, and Manal Radwan has stated that a reference to a Palestinian state is a prerequisite.

The Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, met the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on Monday to discuss the PA role.

Neither the UN nor the 15 strong security council are assigned a supervisory function over the stabilisation force, monitoring the execution of the resolution, a point largely ignored by the proposed document. No details is specified about the financing of this stabilisation mission, which, as per the Americans, should be mostly borne by regional nations, with the Kingdom taking the lead.

Israel's Demands and Regional Situations

Israel is seeking formal assurances from the US that it be permitted to follow the pattern of Lebanon and reserve the right to return to Gaza if it considers demilitarization is not taking place at a level or pace it requires.

The request was put to the former US advisor, the ex-president's son-in-law, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in Jerusalem on this week to discuss progress on the truce and Witkoff was scheduled to appear later the that day.

Just the bodies of four of the original 251 captives remain unreturned.

Independently, Israel has been proposing that the Gaza Strip could still be split in two parts with rebuilding efforts beginning in the Israel occupied parts of the strip. Western diplomats maintain that this is no part of the Trump plan.