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Proposals for an multinational stabilisation force mandated by the United Nations to demilitarize the militant group in Gaza are encountering increasing opposition after the UAE announced it would not join due to the lack of a clear legal structure.

Increasing Global Reservations

Israeli authorities have previously excluded Turkey involvement, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has stated that Jordanian troops will not join. Azerbaijan, once considered as a possible contributor, was absent from a preparatory session in Istanbul and indicated it would not contribute unless a full truce was established.

Emirati officials does not yet see a clear framework for the stabilisation mission and under such circumstances will not participate, but will support all political efforts towards resolution – and remain at the vanguard of humanitarian aid.

Arab Doubts and Legal Issues

The Emirati decision, delivered by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in the UAE capital, highlights regional doubts about the terms of a US-drafted resolution already distributed to delegates 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 region.

Regional governments would prefer expanded duties to be given to a separate local law enforcement agency. Global jurisprudence would also forbid foreign troops from deploying into occupied Palestine unless there was explicit local approval; without it, the mission could be seen as imposed under international statutes, and arguably stabilising an unlawful Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Perspectives and Calls for Definition

Jamal Nusseibeh of the ceasefire proposal said: “It is essential that the force be sent not to reinforce the unlawful Israeli occupation, but to enforce international law and end it. The mission will succeed as long as it enters the whole disputed land, including the West Bank, at the invitation of Palestine, and has a defined objective to end the presence within the context of a independent Palestinian state.”

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

Continuing Negotiations and Potential Risks

Detailed negotiations on the mission authority, including its leadership structure, started officially on last week in the UN headquarters, and look likely to be protracted – potentially creating the development of a vacuum in Gaza that may strengthen Hamas.

The United States is suggesting that it lead the mission although it will not have many personnel deployed on the ground. It has previously in effect assumed command of the delivery of relief supplies into the territory from a recently established logistical hub based in the neighboring country.

Force Objectives and Governance Function

The draft US resolution outlines the aim of the stabilisation force as “together with the recently prepared and screened police force to help secure frontier zones, stabilise the security environment in Gaza by ensuring the process of disarming the territory including the destruction and prevention of rebuilding the militant and offensive infrastructure as well as the permanent decommissioning of arms from militant factions”.

The force, 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 achieve its goals.

Regional powers including Qatari officials are also concerned that this authority is overly broad, and if the group is to disarm, the faction will only do so to local counterparts, probably in the civilian police force, at a moment that, from the militant viewpoint, signifies the end of occupation.

They also worry the proposed authority spills into granting the mission a governance role in Gaza, a task that was to be set aside 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 stay until “the Palestinian Authority has adequately finished its restructuring plan, the approval of which shall be approved to the BoP”, the proposal says. It also “emphasizes the significance” of full relief in Gaza, including through the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Red Crescent.

However, it opens the door the removal of “any group determined to have improperly used such assistance”. The wording leaves open the board of peace barring Unrwa, the body that the international court of justice has ruled is the legal provider of assistance.

Global Diplomatic Efforts

France and Saudi representatives are currently advocating for a reference to a sovereign Palestine to be included in the document. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the US presidential residence on 18 November, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has stated that a mention to a independent Palestine is a requirement.

The PA chair, Mahmoud Abbas, held talks with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on Monday to review the authority's function.

Neither the United Nations nor the 15 strong security council are assigned a supervisory role over the stabilisation force, monitoring the execution of the proposal, a point largely ignored by the draft text. No details is outlined about the funding of this security operation, which, according to the Americans, should be mostly borne by regional nations, with the Kingdom taking the lead.

Israeli Requests and Regional Situations

Israel is requesting written guarantees from the US that it be permitted to follow the model of the Lebanese situation and reserve the right to re-enter Gaza if it considers disarmament is not occurring at a scale or speed it demands.

The request was presented to the former US advisor, the ex-president's relative, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in the Israeli capital on this week to discuss progress on the truce and Witkoff was due to arrive subsequently the same day.

Just the bodies of four of the original 251 captives are still not recovered.

Separately, Israel has been suggesting that the Gaza Strip could still be split in two with rebuilding efforts beginning in the Israel occupied parts of the strip. International officials maintain that this is no part of the former US administration's proposal.