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Plans for an multinational security mission mandated by the United Nations to disarm Hamas in Gaza are facing growing resistance after the United Arab Emirates announced it will not join due to the absence of a well-defined legal structure.

Growing Global Reservations

Israel have previously excluded Turkey participation, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has declared that his country's forces will not join. Azerbaijan, previously mooted as a possible participant, did not attend a planning meeting in Istanbul and indicated it would not take part unless a full ceasefire was established.

Emirati officials does not yet see a clear framework for the stability mission and in this situation will not participate, but backs all diplomatic initiatives towards resolution – and stay at the vanguard of humanitarian aid.

Arab Skepticism and Juridical Issues

The Emirati decision, delivered by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in the UAE capital, highlights regional reservations about the terms of a American-proposed resolution already circulated to delegates at the UN in NYC. The proposal places an onus on a American-led stabilisation force to be the principal means of imposing security in the territory after Israeli forces have left the territory.

Regional governments would prefer expanded responsibilities to be given to a separate Palestinian civilian police force. International law would also prohibit external forces from entering contested Palestinian territories unless there was explicit local approval; otherwise, the mission could be viewed as coercive under UN law, and arguably reinforcing an illegal Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Perspectives and Calls for Clarity

A Palestinian American co-author of the Palestinian armistice plan said: “It is essential that the mission be deployed not to reinforce the unlawful presence, but to enforce global standards and terminate it. The force will work as long as it enters the entire disputed land, including the West Bank, at the request of Palestine, and has a clear objective to conclude the presence within the framework of a independent Palestinian state.”

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 Risks

In-depth talks on the mission mandate, including its command and control, started formally on Thursday in New York, and look likely to be protracted – potentially creating the development of a power gap in Gaza that may empower Hamas.

The United States is suggesting that it lead the mission although it will not have a large number of personnel deployed on the terrain. It has already effectively taken control of the distribution of humanitarian aid into the territory from a new logistical hub based in Israel.

Force Objectives and Governance Role

The draft US resolution defines the purpose of the stabilisation force as “together with the newly trained and screened police force to help secure border areas, secure the security environment in the region by guaranteeing the procedure of demilitarising the Gaza Strip including the elimination and prevention of rebuilding the military terror and offensive infrastructure as well as the lasting removal of arms from militant factions”.

The mission, answerable to a “peace council” led by the former US president, and not to the UN, would be mandated to use “any required actions” to fulfill its objectives.

Regional powers including Qatar are also concerned that this mandate is overly broad, and if the group is to disarm, the group will only do so to fellow Palestinians, likely in the civilian police force, at a time that, from the Hamas perspective, marks the conclusion of occupation.

They also worry the draft mandate spills into granting the mission a governance role in Gaza, a task that was to be reserved for a Palestinian technocratic committee working in conjunction with a restructured Palestinian Authority.

Aid Aspects and Funding Questions

This “transitional governance administration” in the strip 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 full relief in Gaza, including through the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Red Crescent.

Nonetheless, it opens the door the exclusion of “any group determined to have improperly used such assistance”. The phrase leaves open the council barring the UN relief agency, the organization that the international court of justice has said is the lawful provider of aid.

Global Diplomatic Efforts

French officials and Saudi Arabia are already advocating for a mention to a sovereign Palestine to be added in the document. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the White House on 18 November, and Manal Radwan has stated that a reference to a Palestinian state is a prerequisite.

The PA chair, Mahmoud Abbas, met the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on this week to discuss the authority's function.

Neither the UN nor the 15 strong UNSC are given a oversight function over the stabilisation force, supervising the implementation of the resolution, a aspect mostly overlooked by the proposed document. Nothing is outlined about the financing of this security operation, which, as per the US officials, should be largely covered by regional nations, with the Kingdom taking the lead.

Israel's Demands and Regional Developments

Israeli authorities is seeking formal assurances from the US that it be permitted to follow the model of Lebanon and retain the right to re-enter Gaza if it considers demilitarization is not taking place at a scale or pace it requires.

The request was put to the former US advisor, the ex-president's relative, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in the Israeli capital on this week to discuss developments on the ceasefire and Witkoff was scheduled to arrive subsequently the same day.

Only the remains of four of the initial hundreds of Israeli hostages are still unreturned.

Separately, Israeli officials has been proposing that the Gaza Strip could yet be divided in two parts with reconstruction work beginning in the Israel occupied areas of the strip. Western diplomats insist that this is no part of the former US administration's proposal.