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Proposals for an multinational security mission mandated by the UN to disarm Hamas in the Gaza Strip are encountering increasing resistance after the United Arab Emirates announced it would not join due to the lack of a clear legal framework.

Increasing International Reservations

Israel have previously ruled out Turkish involvement, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has stated that Jordanian troops will not participate. Azerbaijan, once considered as a possible contributor, was absent from a preparatory session in Turkey and indicated it would not take part unless a full ceasefire was in place.

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

Regional Doubts and Legal Concerns

The Emirati decision, made by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in Abu Dhabi, reflects Arab doubts about the provisions of a American-proposed resolution previously distributed to diplomats at the UN in NYC. The proposal assigns responsibility on a US-directed stabilisation force to be the principal means of ensuring security in the territory after Israel have left the territory.

Arab states would prefer greater duties to be assigned to a distinct local law enforcement agency. Global jurisprudence would also prohibit external forces from entering occupied Palestinian territories unless there was explicit Palestinian consent; otherwise, the mission could be viewed as imposed under international statutes, and arguably stabilising an illegal Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Perspectives 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 reinforce the unlawful Israeli occupation, but to uphold international law and terminate it. The mission will succeed as long as it operates in the entire occupied territory, including the occupied territories, at the invitation of Palestine, and has a clear goal to conclude the occupation within the context of a sovereign state of Palestine.”

There is no reference to the occupied territories in the US draft resolution, or to a Palestinian state, or a peaceful resolution, a prospect that Israel opposes.

Ongoing Discussions and Potential Dangers

In-depth negotiations on the mission mandate, including its leadership structure, began officially on last week in New York, and look likely to be lengthy – potentially creating the emergence of a power gap in Gaza that may empower Hamas.

The US is proposing that it lead the mission although it will not have many personnel deployed on the terrain. It has already in effect assumed command of the distribution of humanitarian aid into Gaza from a new civil military coordination centre based in the neighboring country.

Mission Mandate and Governance Role

The draft US resolution outlines the aim of the stabilisation force as “along with the recently prepared and screened police force to assist in protecting border areas, stabilise the security environment in Gaza by ensuring the process of disarming the territory including the elimination and blocking of reconstructing the militant and offensive infrastructure as well as the lasting removal of weapons from militant factions”.

The mission, reporting to a “board of peace” led by Donald Trump, and not to the United Nations, would be mandated to use “any required actions” to fulfill its goals.

Regional powers including Qatari officials are also worried that this mandate is overly broad, and if Hamas is to disarm, the group will solely do so to fellow Palestinians, probably in the local law enforcement, at a time that, from the militant viewpoint, marks the end of occupation.

They also fear the proposed authority spills into giving the mission a governance role in Gaza, a task that was to be reserved for a local technocratic committee working in conjunction with a restructured local government.

Aid Aspects and Financial Questions

This “interim authority” in the strip would stay until “the Palestinian Authority has satisfactorily completed its restructuring plan, the satisfaction of which shall be approved to the BoP”, the draft states. It also “underscores the significance” of unhindered humanitarian aid in the territory, including through the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Red Crescent.

Nonetheless, it allows for the exclusion of “any organisation determined to have improperly used such assistance”. The phrase leaves open the council barring the UN relief agency, the organization that the global judicial body has said is the lawful distributor of aid.

Global Political Initiatives

France and Saudi Arabia are currently pressing for a reference to a sovereign Palestine to be added in the resolution. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the White House on 18 November, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has stated that a reference to a Palestinian state is a prerequisite.

The PA chair, Mahmoud Abbas, met the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on Monday to discuss the PA role.

Not the United Nations nor the 15-member security council are assigned a oversight role over the stabilisation force, supervising the implementation of the resolution, a point mostly ignored by the proposed document. No details is specified about the financing of this security operation, which, as per the Americans, should be mostly borne by regional nations, with Saudi Arabia assuming primary responsibility.

Israel's Demands and Regional Developments

Israel is requesting formal assurances from the US that it be permitted to emulate the pattern of the Lebanese situation and retain the authority 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 American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in the Israeli capital on this week to review developments on the truce and Witkoff was scheduled to arrive later the same day.

Only the bodies of four of the original 251 captives remain unreturned.

Independently, Israel has been proposing that the Gaza Strip could yet be divided in two with reconstruction work starting in the Israeli-controlled areas of the region. Western diplomats insist that this is not part of the Trump plan.