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Proposals for an multinational stabilisation force authorized by the United Nations to disarm Hamas in the Gaza Strip are facing increasing opposition after the United Arab Emirates announced it would not take part due to the absence of a well-defined legal framework.

Growing Global Concerns

Israeli authorities have already ruled out Turkey involvement, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has stated that his country's troops will not participate. Azerbaijan, once mooted as a potential contributor, did not attend a planning meeting in Istanbul and indicated it would not contribute unless a full truce was established.

The UAE lacks clarity on a clear structure for the stability mission and under such circumstances will not participate, but backs all political initiatives towards resolution – and stay at the vanguard of relief efforts.

Regional Doubts and Legal Issues

The UAE's decision, delivered by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in Abu Dhabi, highlights Arab reservations about the terms of a American-proposed document already circulated to delegates at the UN in New York. The draft assigns responsibility on a American-led stabilisation force to be the primary means of ensuring security in Gaza after Israel have left the region.

Arab states would like greater duties to be given to a separate local civilian police force. International law would also forbid external forces from deploying into contested Palestine unless there was clear Palestinian consent; without it, the mission could be viewed as coercive under international statutes, and arguably stabilising an unlawful Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Viewpoints and Calls for Definition

Jamal Nusseibeh of the Palestinian armistice plan said: “It is essential that the force be deployed not to stabilise the unlawful Israeli occupation, but to uphold international law and end it. The mission will work as long as it operates in the entire occupied territory, including the West Bank, at the request of the Palestinian authorities, and has a clear goal to end the occupation within the context of a independent Palestinian state.”

The draft contains no reference to the occupied territories in the US draft resolution, or to a Palestinian state, or a peaceful resolution, a prospect that Israeli leadership opposes.

Ongoing Negotiations and Potential Dangers

In-depth talks on the stabilisation force authority, including its command and control, began formally on Thursday in the UN headquarters, and appear to be protracted – potentially creating the emergence of a vacuum in Gaza that may empower Hamas.

The US is suggesting that it lead the force although it will not have a large number of personnel deployed on the terrain. It has already effectively assumed command of the distribution of humanitarian aid into the territory from a new civil military coordination centre based in the neighboring country.

Force Objectives and Governance Role

The proposed American document defines the aim of the security mission as “along with the recently prepared and vetted police force to help secure frontier zones, secure the security environment in Gaza by ensuring the procedure of demilitarising the territory including the elimination and blocking 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 the former US president, and not to the United Nations, 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 solely do so to local counterparts, likely in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the Hamas viewpoint, signifies the end of Israeli presence.

They also fear the draft mandate spills into giving the mission a administrative role in Gaza, a task that was to be set aside for a local expert panel working in cooperation with a reformed Palestinian Authority.

Aid Considerations and Financial Questions

This “interim authority” in the strip would stay until “the Palestinian Authority has adequately completed its reform program, the satisfaction of which shall be approved to the board of peace”, the draft says. It also “emphasizes the importance” of unhindered relief in the territory, including through the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the humanitarian organizations.

Nonetheless, it opens the door the exclusion of “any group found to have misused such aid”. The phrase permits the board of peace excluding the UN relief agency, the organization that the global judicial body has ruled is the legal provider of assistance.

Global Political Initiatives

France and Saudi Arabia are already advocating for a mention to a sovereign Palestine to be added in the resolution. 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 mention to a Palestinian state is a requirement.

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

Neither the UN nor the 15-member security council are given a oversight role over the stabilisation force, supervising the execution of the proposal, a aspect largely overlooked by the draft text. Nothing is outlined about the funding of this security operation, which, according to the Americans, should be mostly covered by Gulf states, with Saudi Arabia assuming primary responsibility.

Israeli Requests and Regional Situations

Israel is seeking written guarantees from the United States that it be allowed to follow the pattern of the Lebanese situation and reserve the authority to return to the territory if it believes disarmament is not occurring at a scale or pace it demands.

The request was presented to the former US advisor, the ex-president's relative, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in the Israeli capital on this week to review progress on the ceasefire and Witkoff was due to arrive later the that day.

Just the remains of a small number of the original hundreds of captives remain not recovered.

Separately, Israeli officials has been proposing that the Gaza Strip could yet be split in two with reconstruction work starting in the Israeli-controlled areas of the strip. Western diplomats insist that this is no part of the Trump plan.