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Proposals for an multinational stabilisation force mandated by the United Nations to disarm the militant group in Gaza are encountering growing opposition after the United Arab Emirates stated it would not take part due to the lack of a well-defined legal structure.

Increasing Global Reservations

Israeli authorities have already ruled out Turkish participation, and Jordan's King Abdullah has declared that his country's forces will not join. The Azerbaijani government, once mooted as a potential participant, was absent from a planning session in Turkey and said it would not take part unless a full truce was in place.

Emirati officials does not yet see a defined structure for the stability force and under such circumstances declines involvement, but will support all political initiatives towards peace – and stay at the vanguard of humanitarian aid.

Regional Doubts and Juridical Concerns

The Emirati announcement, delivered by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in Abu Dhabi, reflects regional doubts about the terms of a American-proposed resolution previously circulated to delegates at the UN in NYC. The proposal assigns responsibility on a US-directed stabilisation force to be the principal means of imposing order in Gaza after Israeli forces have withdrawn from the region.

Arab states would like greater responsibilities to be given to a separate local civilian police force. International law would also forbid foreign troops from entering contested Palestinian territories unless there was explicit Palestinian consent; without it, the force could be viewed as imposed under UN law, and arguably stabilising an unlawful presence.

Local Perspectives and Calls for Definition

Jamal Nusseibeh of the ceasefire proposal commented: “It is essential that the force be deployed not to reinforce the unlawful presence, but to uphold global standards and terminate it. The force will work as long as it operates in the whole occupied territory, including the West Bank, at the invitation of Palestine, and has a defined objective to end the presence within the framework of a sovereign Palestinian state.”

The draft contains no mention 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 Possible Risks

In-depth talks on the stabilisation force mandate, including its leadership structure, began officially on last week in New York, and look likely to be protracted – potentially creating the development of a power gap in Gaza that may strengthen militant factions.

The United States is proposing that it command the mission although it will not have many troops deployed on the terrain. It has previously in effect assumed command of the distribution of relief supplies into Gaza from a new civil military coordination centre based in the neighboring country.

Mission Mandate and Governance Function

The draft American document outlines the aim of the stabilisation force as “together with the recently prepared and vetted law enforcement to assist in protecting frontier zones, secure the safety situation in the region by guaranteeing the procedure of demilitarising the Gaza Strip including the elimination and blocking of rebuilding the militant and offensive infrastructure as well as the lasting decommissioning of arms from non-state armed groups”.

The force, answerable to a “board of peace” chaired by the former US president, and not to the United Nations, would be required to use “all necessary measures” to fulfill its objectives.

Regional powers including Qatar are also concerned that this mandate is too expansive, and if Hamas is to disarm, the faction will solely do so to fellow Palestinians, likely in the civilian police force, at a moment that, from the militant perspective, signifies the conclusion of Israeli presence.

They also fear the proposed authority spills into granting the mission a governance role in the territory, a responsibility that was to be set aside for a local expert panel working in conjunction with a restructured Palestinian Authority.

Aid Considerations and Financial Issues

This “interim authority” in the strip would stay until “the local government has satisfactorily completed its restructuring plan, the approval of which shall be acceptable to the BoP”, the proposal states. It also “underscores the significance” of full relief in Gaza, including through the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the humanitarian organizations.

Nonetheless, it allows for the removal of “any organisation determined to have misused such aid”. The phrase leaves open the council excluding the UN relief agency, the body that the global judicial body has said is the legal provider of aid.

International Political Efforts

French officials and Saudi Arabia are currently pressing for a reference to a sovereign Palestine to be added in the document. The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is scheduled in the White House on the specified date, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has stated that a mention 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 discuss the PA role.

Not the United Nations nor the 15 strong UNSC are assigned a supervisory role over the stabilisation force, monitoring the execution of the resolution, a aspect mostly overlooked by the proposed document. No details is outlined about the funding of this stabilisation mission, which, according to the US officials, should be mostly borne by regional nations, with the Kingdom assuming primary responsibility.

Israel's Demands and Local Developments

Israeli authorities is seeking formal assurances from the United States that it be permitted to emulate the pattern of the Lebanese situation and reserve the right to re-enter the territory if it considers disarmament is not occurring at a level or pace it requires.

The request was put to Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s relative, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in Jerusalem on Monday to review progress on the truce and Witkoff was scheduled to arrive subsequently the same day.

Only the bodies of a small number of the initial hundreds of captives remain unreturned.

Separately, Israel has been proposing that the Gaza Strip could still be split in two parts with rebuilding efforts beginning in the Israel occupied areas of the strip. International officials insist that this is no part of the Trump plan.