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Plans for an multinational stabilisation force authorized by the UN to demilitarize the militant group in Gaza are encountering growing resistance after the UAE stated it will not join due to the lack of a well-defined legal structure.

Increasing Global Concerns

Israel have previously excluded Turkey involvement, and Jordan's King Abdullah has declared that Jordanian forces will not join. The Azerbaijani government, once considered as a possible participant, did not attend a preparatory meeting in Turkey and said it would not take part unless a complete ceasefire was in place.

Emirati officials lacks clarity on a defined structure for the stability force and in this situation will not participate, but backs all political initiatives towards resolution – and stay at the forefront of relief efforts.

Arab Skepticism and Legal Concerns

The Emirati announcement, made by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in Abu Dhabi, reflects regional reservations about the terms of a American-proposed resolution already distributed to diplomats at the UN in New York. The draft places an onus on a US-directed security mission to be the principal means of imposing order in Gaza after Israel have withdrawn from the territory.

Regional governments would prefer expanded responsibilities to be given to a distinct Palestinian law enforcement agency. Global jurisprudence would also prohibit foreign troops from deploying into occupied Palestinian territories unless there was clear local approval; without it, the mission could be viewed as coercive under international statutes, and arguably reinforcing an unlawful presence.

Palestinian Viewpoints and Calls for Definition

Jamal Nusseibeh of the Palestinian armistice plan commented: “It is essential that the force be sent not to stabilise the illegal presence, but to enforce international law and end it. The force will succeed as long as it enters the whole occupied territory, including the occupied territories, at the request of Palestine, and has a clear goal to end the presence within the framework of a sovereign Palestinian state.”

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

Continuing Negotiations and Potential Risks

Detailed talks on the mission authority, including its command and control, began officially on Thursday in the UN headquarters, and appear to be protracted – potentially creating the development of a power gap in the strip that may empower militant factions.

The US is suggesting that it lead the force although it will not have a large number of troops deployed on the ground. 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 Administrative Function

The draft American document defines the purpose of the stabilisation force as “together with the newly trained and screened law enforcement to help secure frontier zones, stabilise the safety situation in the region by ensuring the procedure of disarming the territory including the elimination and prevention of rebuilding the military terror and offensive infrastructure as well as the lasting removal 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 “any required actions” to achieve its objectives.

Arab states including Qatari officials are also worried that this mandate is overly broad, and if Hamas is to disarm, the group will solely do so to fellow Palestinians, likely in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the Hamas viewpoint, marks the end of occupation.

They also fear the proposed authority spills into giving the mission a governance role in Gaza, a task that was to be reserved for a Palestinian expert panel working in cooperation with a restructured Palestinian Authority.

Aid Considerations and Financial Issues

This “transitional governance administration” in Gaza would remain until “the Palestinian Authority has adequately finished its reform program, the approval of which shall be approved to the BoP”, the proposal says. It also “emphasizes the importance” of unhindered relief in Gaza, including through the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the humanitarian organizations.

Nonetheless, it opens the door the exclusion of “any group determined to have improperly used such assistance”. The wording permits the board of peace barring the UN relief agency, the body that the global judicial body has ruled is the legal distributor of assistance.

International Diplomatic Initiatives

France and Saudi representatives are currently advocating for a reference to a sovereign Palestine to be added in the resolution. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the US presidential residence on 18 November, and Manal Radwan has said that a mention to a Palestinian state is a requirement.

The PA chair, Mahmoud Abbas, held talks with the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on Monday to review the PA role.

Not the UN nor the 15-member UNSC are assigned a oversight function over the mission, supervising the implementation of the proposal, a aspect largely ignored by the draft text. Nothing is specified about the funding of this stabilisation mission, which, according to the Americans, should be mostly borne by Gulf states, with the Kingdom taking the lead.

Israeli Demands and Local Situations

Israel is requesting written guarantees from the US that it be permitted to follow the pattern of the Lebanese situation and retain the right to return to the territory if it believes disarmament is not taking place at a scale or pace it demands.

The request was put to Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in Jerusalem on this week to discuss progress on the truce and Witkoff was due to arrive subsequently the same day.

Just the remains of four of the initial hundreds of Israeli hostages remain unreturned.

Separately, Israeli officials has been suggesting that the Gaza Strip could still be divided in two parts with reconstruction work starting in the Israel occupied parts of the region. International officials insist that this is no part of the former US administration's proposal.