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Proposals for an international stabilisation force authorized by the UN to demilitarize Hamas in the Gaza Strip are facing increasing resistance after the United Arab Emirates stated it would not take part due to the absence of a well-defined legal framework.

Growing Global Concerns

Israel have already excluded Turkish involvement, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has declared that Jordanian forces will not participate. Azerbaijan, previously mooted as a potential contributor, did not attend a preparatory session in Istanbul and said it would not contribute unless a complete ceasefire was established.

The UAE does not yet see a defined structure for the stability force and under such circumstances declines involvement, but backs all diplomatic efforts towards resolution – and stay at the vanguard of relief efforts.

Arab Doubts and Juridical Issues

The Emirati decision, made by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in Abu Dhabi, highlights regional reservations about the provisions of a American-proposed document previously distributed to delegates at the UN in New York. The proposal assigns responsibility on a US-directed stabilisation force to be the primary means of ensuring security in the territory after Israel have left the region.

Arab states would like expanded duties to be given to a separate Palestinian law enforcement agency. International law would also forbid foreign troops from deploying into contested Palestine unless there was explicit Palestinian consent; otherwise, the force could be seen as imposed under UN law, and arguably reinforcing an illegal presence.

Palestinian Perspectives and Appeals for Definition

Jamal Nusseibeh of the Palestinian armistice plan said: “It is essential that the force be sent not to stabilise the unlawful presence, but to enforce international law and end it. The mission will succeed as long as it operates in the whole occupied territory, including the occupied territories, at the invitation of the Palestinian authorities, and has a clear goal to end the occupation within the context of a independent Palestinian state.”

There is no mention to the West Bank in the American proposal, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a peaceful resolution, a prospect that Israeli leadership rejects.

Ongoing Negotiations and Potential Risks

Detailed negotiations on the stabilisation force authority, including its leadership structure, began formally on last week in the UN headquarters, and look likely to be protracted – potentially creating the development of a vacuum in Gaza that may empower Hamas.

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

Force Mandate and Governance Function

The draft American document defines the aim of the stabilisation force as “together with the newly trained and vetted police force to help secure border areas, secure the safety situation in the region by ensuring the procedure of demilitarising the territory including the destruction and prevention of reconstructing the military terror and hostile facilities as well as the lasting removal of arms from militant factions”.

The force, reporting to a “board of peace” chaired by Donald Trump, and not to the United Nations, would be required to use “all necessary measures” to fulfill its objectives.

Regional powers including Qatar are also concerned that this authority is too expansive, and if the group is to disarm, the faction will solely do so to fellow Palestinians, probably in the civilian police force, at a moment that, from the Hamas perspective, signifies the end of occupation.

They also fear the draft mandate spills into giving the stabilisation force a governance function in the territory, a responsibility that was to be reserved for a Palestinian expert panel working in conjunction with a reformed Palestinian Authority.

Aid Aspects and Financial Issues

This “interim authority” in the strip would remain until “the Palestinian Authority has adequately completed its reform program, the approval of which shall be approved to the board of peace”, the proposal states. It also “underscores the significance” of unhindered humanitarian aid in Gaza, including through the UN, the ICRC, and the humanitarian organizations.

However, it allows for the exclusion of “any organisation determined to have improperly used such assistance”. The wording leaves open the council excluding Unrwa, the organization that the international court of justice has said is the lawful distributor of aid.

International Political Initiatives

France and Saudi representatives are already pressing for a mention to a Palestinian state to be added in the resolution. The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the US presidential residence on 18 November, and Manal Radwan has stated that a mention to a independent Palestine is a prerequisite.

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

Neither the United Nations nor the 15 strong UNSC are assigned a supervisory role over the mission, supervising the execution of the proposal, a aspect mostly ignored by the proposed document. Nothing is specified about the funding of this stabilisation mission, which, as per the US officials, should be mostly borne by Gulf states, with Saudi Arabia assuming primary responsibility.

Israel's Requests and Regional Developments

Israel is requesting formal assurances from the US that it be allowed to emulate the pattern of Lebanon and reserve the right to re-enter Gaza if it believes demilitarization is not taking place at a scale or pace it requires.

The request was presented to the former US advisor, the ex-president's relative, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in Jerusalem on Monday to review developments on the truce and Witkoff was scheduled to appear subsequently the that day.

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

Independently, Israeli officials has been suggesting that the Gaza Strip could yet be split in two with reconstruction work beginning in the Israel occupied parts of the strip. Western diplomats maintain that this is no part of the Trump plan.