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Plans for an multinational stabilisation force authorized by the UN to disarm Hamas in the Gaza Strip are encountering growing resistance after the United Arab Emirates announced it would not take part due to the absence of a well-defined legal framework.

Growing Global Concerns

Israel have already excluded Turkish participation, and Jordan's King Abdullah has declared that Jordanian troops will not participate. Azerbaijan, previously mooted as a potential contributor, was absent from a preparatory session in Istanbul and indicated it would not take part unless a complete truce was in place.

Emirati officials does not yet see a defined structure for the stability force and in this situation declines involvement, but backs all diplomatic efforts towards peace – and stay at the vanguard of relief efforts.

Arab Skepticism and Legal Concerns

The Emirati decision, made by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in Abu Dhabi, reflects Arab doubts about the terms of a US-drafted document already circulated to diplomats at the UN in New York. The draft assigns responsibility on a American-led stabilisation force to be the principal means of ensuring order in Gaza after Israeli forces have withdrawn from the territory.

Regional governments would like expanded responsibilities to be assigned to a distinct Palestinian law enforcement agency. Global jurisprudence would also prohibit external forces from entering contested Palestine unless there was clear local approval; otherwise, the mission could be seen as coercive under international statutes, and arguably stabilising an illegal Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Perspectives and Appeals for Definition

Jamal Nusseibeh of the Palestinian armistice plan said: “It is critical that the force be deployed not to stabilise the illegal presence, but to uphold global standards and terminate it. The mission will succeed as long as it enters the whole disputed land, including the occupied territories, at the invitation of the Palestinian authorities, and has a clear goal to conclude the occupation within the context of a sovereign 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 rejects.

Continuing Negotiations and Possible Risks

Detailed talks on the mission authority, including its command and control, started formally on last week in the UN headquarters, and look likely to be protracted – risking the emergence of a vacuum in Gaza that may empower militant factions.

The United States is proposing that it lead the mission although it will not have a large number of personnel involved on the terrain. It has already in effect taken control of the distribution of humanitarian aid into Gaza from a new civil military coordination centre based in Israel.

Force Mandate and Governance Function

The draft American document outlines the purpose of the stabilisation force as “together with the newly trained and screened law enforcement to assist in protecting border areas, stabilise the safety situation in the region by guaranteeing the procedure of disarming the territory including the destruction and prevention of rebuilding the military terror and offensive infrastructure as well as the permanent decommissioning of arms from militant factions”.

The force, reporting to a “board of peace” led by the former US president, and not to the United Nations, would be required to use “any required actions” to fulfill its goals.

Arab states including Qatari officials are also worried that this authority is overly broad, and if the group is to lay down arms, the faction will solely do so to local counterparts, probably in the civilian police force, at a moment that, from the Hamas viewpoint, marks the conclusion of occupation.

They also worry the draft mandate spills into granting the stabilisation force a administrative function in Gaza, a responsibility that was to be reserved for a Palestinian technocratic committee working in cooperation with a reformed Palestinian Authority.

Aid Considerations and Funding Issues

This “transitional governance administration” in Gaza would remain until “the Palestinian Authority has adequately completed its reform program, the approval of which shall be approved to the BoP”, the draft states. It also “emphasizes the importance” of unhindered relief in Gaza, including through the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the humanitarian organizations.

Nonetheless, it opens the door the exclusion of “any group found to have improperly used such aid”. The wording permits the council barring Unrwa, the organization that the international court of justice has said is the lawful provider of assistance.

International Political Efforts

French officials and Saudi Arabia are currently pressing for a mention to a Palestinian state to be added in the resolution. 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 Palestinian state is a requirement.

The Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, held talks with the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on this week to review the PA role.

Neither the United Nations nor the 15 strong security council are given a oversight function over the mission, supervising the implementation of the resolution, a aspect largely ignored by the proposed document. No details is specified about the financing of this stabilisation mission, which, according to the Americans, should be mostly borne by Gulf states, with Saudi Arabia assuming primary responsibility.

Israeli Demands and Regional Situations

Israel is seeking written guarantees from the US that it be allowed to emulate the pattern of Lebanon and reserve the authority to return to Gaza if it believes demilitarization is not taking place at a scale or pace it requires.

The Israeli proposal was put to the former US advisor, the ex-president's son-in-law, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in the Israeli capital on Monday to review developments on the truce and the envoy was due to appear later the that 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 yet be divided in two parts with reconstruction work beginning in the Israel occupied areas of the region. International officials maintain that this is no part of the Trump plan.