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Plans for an international stabilisation force mandated by the UN to disarm Hamas in the Gaza Strip are facing increasing resistance after the United Arab Emirates announced it will not join due to the absence of a clear legal structure.

Increasing International Concerns

Israeli authorities have previously ruled out Turkey involvement, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has stated that Jordanian troops will not participate. The Azerbaijani government, once mooted as a potential participant, did not attend a planning session in Turkey and indicated it would not take part unless a complete ceasefire was established.

The UAE does not yet see a clear framework for the stability force and in this situation will not participate, but will support all political initiatives towards peace – and remain at the vanguard of humanitarian aid.

Regional Skepticism and Legal Concerns

The Emirati decision, delivered by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in the UAE capital, highlights regional doubts about the provisions of a American-proposed document already distributed to diplomats at the UN in NYC. The draft assigns responsibility on a US-directed stabilisation force to be the primary means of ensuring order in the territory after Israeli forces have withdrawn from the region.

Regional governments would prefer greater duties to be given to a distinct Palestinian civilian police force. Global jurisprudence would also forbid foreign troops from entering contested Palestine unless there was explicit Palestinian consent; without it, the mission could be seen as imposed under international statutes, and arguably reinforcing an unlawful presence.

Palestinian Viewpoints and Calls for Definition

A Palestinian American co-author of the Palestinian armistice plan said: “It is critical that the force be sent not to reinforce the illegal presence, but to uphold international law and terminate it. The mission will work as long as it enters the entire occupied territory, including the occupied territories, at the request of Palestine, and has a clear goal to conclude the presence within the framework of a sovereign state of Palestine.”

There is no reference to the West Bank in the American proposal, or to a Palestinian state, or a two-state solution, a outcome that Israeli leadership opposes.

Ongoing Negotiations and Potential Dangers

In-depth negotiations on the stabilisation force authority, including its leadership structure, began officially on Thursday in New York, and appear to be protracted – potentially creating the emergence of a vacuum in Gaza that may empower Hamas.

The United States is proposing that it command the force although it will not have many troops involved on the ground. It has previously in effect assumed command of the delivery of relief supplies into Gaza from a new civil military coordination centre based in the neighboring country.

Force Mandate and Administrative Role

The draft US resolution outlines the aim of the security mission as “along with the recently prepared and screened law enforcement to help secure frontier zones, stabilise the security environment in Gaza by guaranteeing the procedure of disarming the Gaza Strip including the destruction and prevention of reconstructing the militant and hostile facilities as well as the permanent decommissioning of weapons from militant factions”.

The force, reporting to a “board of peace” chaired by the former US president, and not to the UN, would be required to use “all necessary measures” to achieve its objectives.

Regional powers including Qatar are also worried that this mandate is overly broad, and if Hamas is to disarm, the group will only do so to fellow Palestinians, likely in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the militant perspective, signifies the end of Israeli presence.

They also fear the draft mandate extends to granting the mission a administrative function in Gaza, a task that was to be reserved for a Palestinian technocratic committee working in cooperation with a restructured Palestinian Authority.

Humanitarian Aspects and Financial Questions

This “interim authority” in the strip would stay until “the local government has adequately finished its restructuring plan, the satisfaction of which shall be approved to the board of peace”, the proposal states. It also “underscores the significance” of unhindered humanitarian aid in the territory, including through the United Nations, the ICRC, and the Red Crescent.

Nonetheless, it opens the door the exclusion of “any organisation determined to have improperly used such aid”. The phrase leaves open the board of peace barring Unrwa, the organization that the global judicial body has said is the lawful provider of aid.

Global Political Initiatives

French officials and Saudi representatives are currently advocating for a reference to a Palestinian state to be included in the document. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the White House on 18 November, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has said that a mention to a independent Palestine is a prerequisite.

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

Neither the United Nations nor the 15-member UNSC are given a supervisory role over the mission, monitoring the execution of the resolution, a point largely ignored by the proposed document. Nothing is specified about the financing of this stabilisation mission, which, according to the Americans, should be largely borne by Gulf states, with the Kingdom taking the lead.

Israeli Demands and Local Developments

Israel is seeking formal assurances from the United States that it be permitted to emulate the pattern of the Lebanese situation and reserve the right to re-enter the territory if it considers disarmament is not occurring at a level or pace it requires.

The request was put to Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in the Israeli capital on this week to review developments on the ceasefire and Witkoff was scheduled to appear later the same day.

Just the bodies of a small number of the initial hundreds of Israeli hostages remain not recovered.

Independently, Israeli officials has been suggesting that the Gaza Strip could still be divided in two with rebuilding efforts starting in the Israeli-controlled parts of the region. International officials maintain that this is no part of the Trump plan.