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Plans for an international security mission authorized by the UN to disarm the militant group in the Gaza Strip are encountering increasing opposition after the United Arab Emirates stated it would not take part due to the lack of a well-defined legal structure.

Increasing Global Concerns

Israeli authorities have already ruled out Turkish involvement, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has stated that Jordanian forces will not participate. The Azerbaijani government, once considered as a potential contributor, did not attend a preparatory session in Turkey and said it would not contribute unless a complete ceasefire was in place.

The UAE does not yet see a clear framework for the stabilisation mission and in this situation will not participate, but will support all political efforts towards resolution – and stay at the forefront of humanitarian aid.

Regional Doubts and Juridical Concerns

The UAE's announcement, delivered by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in Abu Dhabi, highlights Arab reservations about the provisions of a American-proposed document already distributed to diplomats at the UN in New York. The draft places an onus on a US-directed security mission to be the principal means of imposing order in the territory after Israel have withdrawn from the territory.

Regional governments would like greater duties to be given to a distinct local civilian police force. International law would also prohibit foreign troops from entering contested Palestine unless there was explicit Palestinian consent; otherwise, the mission could be viewed as imposed under international statutes, and potentially stabilising an unlawful Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Viewpoints and Appeals for Clarity

Jamal Nusseibeh of the ceasefire proposal said: “It is essential that the mission be deployed not to stabilise the unlawful Israeli occupation, but to enforce international law and terminate it. The mission will succeed as long as it operates in the whole occupied territory, including the occupied territories, at the invitation of the Palestinian authorities, and has a clear objective to end the occupation within the framework of a independent Palestinian state.”

There is no mention to the occupied territories in the US draft resolution, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a peaceful resolution, a prospect that Israel rejects.

Continuing Discussions and Possible Dangers

Detailed talks on the mission mandate, including its command and control, 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 command the mission although it will not have many personnel deployed on the ground. It has previously in effect taken control of the distribution of relief supplies into the territory from a recently established civil military coordination centre based in Israel.

Mission Mandate and Governance Function

The draft US resolution defines the aim of the security mission as “along with the newly trained and vetted law enforcement to assist in protecting border areas, secure the security environment in the region by guaranteeing the procedure of disarming the Gaza Strip including the elimination and blocking of rebuilding the military terror and offensive infrastructure as well as the lasting decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups”.

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

Arab states including Qatar are also concerned that this authority is too expansive, and if the group is to disarm, the group will solely do so to fellow Palestinians, likely in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the Hamas perspective, signifies the end of Israeli presence.

They also fear the draft mandate spills into giving the mission a administrative function in the territory, a task that was to be reserved for a local technocratic committee working in cooperation with a reformed local government.

Humanitarian Aspects and Financial Questions

This “transitional governance administration” in Gaza would remain until “the local government has adequately finished its reform program, the approval of which shall be approved to the board of peace”, the draft says. It also “underscores the importance” of full humanitarian aid in the territory, including through the United Nations, the ICRC, and the humanitarian organizations.

However, it allows for the removal of “any group found to have improperly used such assistance”. The phrase leaves open the board of peace barring Unrwa, the body that the international court of justice has ruled is the legal distributor of aid.

International Diplomatic Initiatives

French officials and Saudi Arabia are already advocating for a reference to a sovereign Palestine to be added in the resolution. The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the White House on 18 November, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has stated that a mention to a Palestinian state is a prerequisite.

The PA chair, Mahmoud Abbas, met the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on Monday to review the authority's function.

Not the UN nor the 15-member UNSC are assigned a supervisory role over the stabilisation force, monitoring the implementation of the resolution, a point largely ignored by the proposed document. Nothing is outlined about the financing of this security operation, which, according to the Americans, should be largely covered by regional nations, with the Kingdom assuming primary responsibility.

Israeli Demands and Regional Situations

Israel is seeking written guarantees from the US that it be allowed to follow the pattern of Lebanon and retain the right to re-enter the territory if it believes disarmament is not occurring at a level or pace it demands.

The Israeli proposal was put to the former US advisor, the ex-president's son-in-law, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in Jerusalem on this week to discuss progress on the truce and the envoy was due to arrive subsequently the same day.

Only the bodies of a small number of the original 251 captives are still not recovered.

Separately, Israel has been proposing that the territory could still be divided in two with rebuilding efforts beginning in the Israel occupied areas of the strip. Western diplomats insist that this is not part of the former US administration's proposal.