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Proposals for an multinational stabilisation force mandated by the UN to demilitarize the militant group in the Gaza Strip are encountering increasing opposition after the United Arab Emirates announced it will not join due to the absence of a clear legal framework.

Increasing Global Reservations

Israeli authorities have previously ruled out Turkish involvement, and Jordan's King Abdullah has declared that his country's troops will not join. Azerbaijan, previously mooted as a possible participant, did not attend a preparatory meeting in Turkey and indicated it would not contribute unless a complete truce was in place.

Emirati officials lacks clarity on a defined structure for the stability force and under such circumstances will not participate, but backs all diplomatic efforts towards peace – and remain at the vanguard of relief efforts.

Arab Skepticism and Legal Concerns

The UAE's decision, delivered by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in Abu Dhabi, highlights Arab reservations about the terms of a US-drafted document already circulated to delegates at the UN in NYC. The draft places an onus on a US-directed security mission to be the primary means of imposing order in Gaza after Israel have withdrawn from the region.

Regional governments would like greater duties to be assigned to a separate local law enforcement agency. Global jurisprudence would also forbid external forces from deploying into contested Palestinian territories unless there was clear local approval; otherwise, the force could be viewed as imposed under UN law, and potentially stabilising an unlawful presence.

Local Viewpoints and Calls for Clarity

A Palestinian American co-author of the Palestinian armistice plan commented: “It is critical that the force be deployed not to stabilise the unlawful Israeli occupation, but to enforce international law and end it. The force will succeed as long as it enters the whole occupied territory, including the West Bank, at the invitation of Palestine, and has a clear goal to end the occupation within the framework of a sovereign state of Palestine.”

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

Continuing Negotiations and Potential Risks

In-depth negotiations on the stabilisation force authority, including its command and control, began officially on last week in the UN headquarters, and appear to be protracted – risking the emergence of a vacuum in the strip that may empower Hamas.

The US is proposing that it command the mission although it will not have many troops involved on the terrain. It has already in effect assumed command of the delivery of relief supplies into Gaza from a new logistical hub based in the neighboring country.

Force Objectives and Administrative Function

The proposed US resolution defines the aim of the stabilisation force as “together with the newly trained and screened law enforcement to assist in protecting frontier zones, secure the security environment in the region by guaranteeing the process of demilitarising the Gaza Strip including the destruction and blocking of rebuilding the military terror and offensive infrastructure as well as the lasting removal of weapons from non-state armed groups”.

The force, answerable to a “board of peace” led by the former US president, and not to the UN, would be required to use “any required actions” to achieve its objectives.

Arab states including Qatari officials are also concerned that this mandate is overly broad, and if Hamas is to lay down arms, the faction will only do so to local counterparts, likely in the civilian police force, at a moment that, from the militant perspective, signifies the conclusion of occupation.

They also worry the proposed authority spills into granting the mission a governance function in Gaza, a task that was to be set aside for a local technocratic committee working in cooperation with a restructured Palestinian Authority.

Aid Aspects and Funding Issues

This “interim authority” in Gaza would remain until “the local government has satisfactorily completed its reform program, the satisfaction of which shall be approved to the board of peace”, the draft states. It also “underscores the significance” of unhindered relief in the territory, including through the UN, the ICRC, and the humanitarian organizations.

Nonetheless, it opens the door the removal of “any group determined to have misused such assistance”. The phrase permits the council barring Unrwa, the organization that the global judicial body has said is the legal distributor of assistance.

International Political Efforts

French officials and Saudi representatives are currently pressing for a mention to a sovereign Palestine to be included in the resolution. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the US presidential residence on 18 November, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has stated that a reference to a independent Palestine is a prerequisite.

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

Not the UN nor the 15 strong security council are assigned a oversight role over the stabilisation force, supervising the implementation of the proposal, a point largely ignored by the proposed document. No details is specified about the financing of this security operation, which, according to the Americans, should be mostly covered by regional nations, with the Kingdom taking the lead.

Israel's Demands and Regional Situations

Israel is requesting formal assurances from the United States that it be allowed to follow the model of Lebanon and retain the right to re-enter the territory if it believes disarmament is not taking place at a scale or pace it requires.

The Israeli proposal was presented to Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in Jerusalem on Monday to review progress on the truce and Witkoff was scheduled to appear later the that day.

Just the bodies of a small number of the original 251 captives are still unreturned.

Independently, Israeli officials has been proposing that the territory could still be divided in two parts with rebuilding efforts beginning in the Israeli-controlled parts of the region. International officials insist that this is no part of the Trump plan.