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Proposals for an international stabilisation force authorized by the United Nations to demilitarize Hamas in Gaza are encountering growing opposition after the United Arab Emirates announced it will not join due to the lack of a clear legal structure.

Growing Global Concerns

Israel have previously ruled out Turkish participation, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has stated that Jordanian troops will not join. The Azerbaijani government, once considered as a potential participant, did not attend a preparatory session in Istanbul and indicated it would not contribute unless a full ceasefire was in place.

The UAE does not yet see a defined framework for the stability mission and in this situation declines involvement, but will support all diplomatic initiatives towards resolution – and remain at the vanguard of relief efforts.

Arab Skepticism and Legal Concerns

The Emirati announcement, delivered by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in Abu Dhabi, reflects Arab reservations about the terms of a US-drafted resolution previously circulated to diplomats at the UN in NYC. The draft places an onus on a American-led stabilisation force to be the principal means of ensuring order in the territory after Israel have withdrawn from the territory.

Regional governments would prefer expanded duties to be given to a separate local law enforcement agency. International law would also forbid foreign troops from entering occupied Palestine unless there was clear local approval; otherwise, the force could be seen as coercive under international statutes, and arguably reinforcing an unlawful presence.

Local Perspectives and Calls for Clarity

Jamal Nusseibeh of the Palestinian armistice plan commented: “It is critical that the mission be deployed not to reinforce the unlawful Israeli occupation, but to uphold international law and end it. The force will work as long as it enters the whole disputed land, including the occupied territories, at the request of the Palestinian authorities, and has a defined objective to end the occupation within the framework of a sovereign Palestinian state.”

There is no reference to the occupied territories in the American proposal, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a two-state solution, a outcome that Israel opposes.

Continuing Discussions and Possible Dangers

Detailed negotiations on the mission authority, including its leadership structure, began formally on last week in New York, and look likely to be protracted – potentially creating the emergence of a power gap in Gaza that may empower militant factions.

The United States is suggesting that it lead the force although it will not have many troops deployed on the terrain. It has already in effect assumed command of the distribution of relief supplies into Gaza from a recently established logistical hub based in Israel.

Mission Objectives and Governance Function

The proposed US resolution outlines the purpose of the security mission as “together with the recently prepared and screened law enforcement to help secure border areas, stabilise the safety situation in the region by ensuring the procedure of demilitarising the territory including the destruction and blocking of rebuilding the militant and hostile facilities as well as the lasting decommissioning of weapons from militant factions”.

The mission, answerable to a “board of peace” chaired by Donald Trump, and not to the UN, would be required to use “all necessary measures” to fulfill its goals.

Arab states including Qatari officials are also worried that this authority is overly broad, and if Hamas is to disarm, the group will only do so to fellow Palestinians, probably in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the Hamas perspective, signifies the end of Israeli presence.

They also fear the draft mandate extends to giving the mission a governance function in Gaza, a task that was to be reserved for a local expert panel working in cooperation with a reformed local government.

Aid Aspects and Funding Issues

This “interim authority” in the strip would stay until “the local government has adequately completed its reform program, the satisfaction of which shall be acceptable to the BoP”, the proposal states. It also “underscores the significance” of unhindered relief in the territory, including through the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the humanitarian organizations.

Nonetheless, it allows for the removal of “any organisation determined to have improperly used such assistance”. The phrase leaves open the board of peace excluding Unrwa, the organization 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 mention to a sovereign Palestine to be added in the document. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the US presidential residence on the specified date, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has said that a reference to a independent Palestine is a requirement.

The Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, met the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on Monday to review the authority's function.

Not the United Nations nor the 15-member UNSC are given a supervisory role over the mission, monitoring the execution of the proposal, a aspect mostly overlooked by the draft text. Nothing is specified about the financing of this stabilisation mission, which, according to the US officials, should be largely covered by Gulf states, with Saudi Arabia assuming primary responsibility.

Israel's Requests and Local Situations

Israeli authorities is requesting written guarantees from the United States that it be permitted to emulate the pattern of Lebanon and reserve the right to return to Gaza if it believes disarmament is not taking place at a level or speed it requires.

The request was presented to Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s relative, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in Jerusalem on Monday to review developments on the ceasefire and the envoy was scheduled to appear later the same day.

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

Independently, Israeli officials has been proposing that the territory could still be divided in two parts with reconstruction work starting in the Israeli-controlled areas of the strip. International officials maintain that this is not part of the former US administration's proposal.