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Plans for an international security mission authorized by the United Nations to disarm Hamas in Gaza are encountering increasing resistance after the United Arab Emirates stated it will not take part due to the absence of a clear legal structure.

Increasing Global Concerns

Israeli authorities have already excluded Turkish participation, and Jordan's King Abdullah has declared that Jordanian troops will not participate. Azerbaijan, once mooted as a possible contributor, was absent from a planning session in Istanbul and said it would not take part unless a full ceasefire was established.

The UAE lacks clarity on a clear framework for the stabilisation mission and in this situation declines involvement, but backs all political initiatives towards resolution – and remain at the forefront of relief efforts.

Regional Doubts and Juridical Issues

The Emirati announcement, made by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in the UAE capital, reflects regional doubts about the provisions of a American-proposed resolution already distributed to delegates at the UN in NYC. The draft assigns responsibility on a American-led stabilisation force to be the primary means of imposing security in Gaza after Israeli forces have left the territory.

Arab states would prefer greater duties to be given to a separate local civilian police force. International law would also forbid external forces from deploying into occupied Palestinian territories unless there was clear local approval; otherwise, the force could be seen as imposed under UN law, and arguably stabilising an illegal Israeli occupation.

Local Perspectives and Calls for Clarity

Jamal Nusseibeh of the Palestinian armistice plan commented: “It is essential that the mission be deployed not to reinforce the illegal Israeli occupation, but to enforce global standards and end it. The mission will succeed as long as it enters the entire occupied territory, including the West Bank, at the request of Palestine, and has a defined objective to end the presence within the context of a independent Palestinian state.”

The draft contains no mention to the occupied territories in the US draft resolution, or to a Palestinian state, or a two-state solution, a outcome that Israeli leadership rejects.

Ongoing Negotiations and Potential Dangers

In-depth negotiations on the mission authority, including its command and control, started officially on last week in the UN headquarters, and look likely to be lengthy – potentially creating the development of a vacuum in Gaza that may empower Hamas.

The US is proposing that it command the mission although it will not have many personnel involved on the terrain. It has previously effectively taken control of the distribution of humanitarian aid into Gaza from a new logistical hub based in Israel.

Mission Objectives and Administrative Function

The proposed American document defines the aim of the security mission as “together with the newly trained and screened police force to assist in protecting frontier zones, stabilise the safety situation in the region by guaranteeing the procedure of disarming the territory including the elimination and prevention of rebuilding the military terror and hostile facilities as well as the permanent decommissioning of arms from non-state armed groups”.

The mission, answerable to a “peace council” chaired by Donald Trump, and not to the United Nations, would be mandated to use “all necessary measures” to fulfill its goals.

Regional powers including Qatar are also worried that this mandate is too expansive, and if Hamas is to lay down arms, the group will only do so to local counterparts, likely in the civilian police force, at a time that, from the Hamas viewpoint, marks the end of occupation.

They also fear the draft mandate extends to giving the mission a governance function in Gaza, a task that was to be set aside for a local technocratic committee working in cooperation with a restructured local government.

Humanitarian Aspects and Financial Questions

This “transitional governance administration” in Gaza would stay until “the local government has satisfactorily completed its reform program, the satisfaction of which shall be approved to the board of peace”, the proposal states. It also “emphasizes the importance” of full humanitarian aid in Gaza, including through the UN, the ICRC, and the humanitarian organizations.

Nonetheless, it allows for the removal of “any group found to have misused such aid”. The wording permits the board of peace excluding Unrwa, the organization that the global judicial body has said is the lawful distributor of assistance.

International Diplomatic Initiatives

French officials and Saudi representatives are already pressing 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 a Saudi foreign ministry official has said that a reference to a independent Palestine 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 authority's function.

Neither the UN nor the 15-member UNSC are assigned a oversight role over the stabilisation force, monitoring the implementation of the resolution, a aspect mostly ignored by the draft text. No details is specified about the funding of this security operation, which, according to the US officials, should be largely borne by Gulf states, with Saudi Arabia taking the lead.

Israel's Demands and Regional Situations

Israeli authorities is seeking written guarantees from the United States that it be permitted to emulate the model of Lebanon and retain the authority to return to Gaza if it believes disarmament is not occurring at a scale or speed it requires.

The request was presented to the former US advisor, the ex-president's son-in-law, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in Jerusalem on this week to review developments on the ceasefire and the envoy was scheduled to arrive later the that day.

Just the bodies of four of the original 251 captives are still unreturned.

Separately, Israeli officials has been proposing that the Gaza Strip could yet be split in two with rebuilding efforts beginning in the Israeli-controlled parts of the region. International officials maintain that this is not part of the Trump plan.