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Proposals for an international stabilisation force authorized by the United Nations to demilitarize Hamas in the Gaza Strip are encountering increasing resistance after the United Arab Emirates announced it will not join due to the absence of a clear legal structure.

Growing International Reservations

Israel have previously excluded Turkish involvement, and Jordan's King Abdullah has stated that his country's forces will not join. The Azerbaijani government, once considered as a possible contributor, was absent from a preparatory session in Turkey and said it would not contribute unless a complete truce was in place.

Emirati officials does not yet see a defined framework for the stabilisation force and in this situation declines involvement, but will support all political efforts towards resolution – and remain at the forefront of humanitarian aid.

Regional Skepticism and Legal Issues

The UAE's announcement, made by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in the UAE capital, reflects regional reservations about the provisions of a US-drafted document previously distributed to delegates at the UN in New York. The draft assigns responsibility on a American-led stabilisation force to be the primary means of ensuring order in Gaza after Israel have withdrawn from the region.

Regional governments would prefer expanded responsibilities to be assigned to a separate Palestinian law enforcement agency. Global jurisprudence would also forbid external forces from entering contested Palestine unless there was clear local approval; without it, the force could be viewed as imposed under international statutes, and arguably stabilising an unlawful Israeli occupation.

Local Viewpoints and Calls for Definition

Jamal Nusseibeh of the Palestinian armistice plan commented: “It is essential that the mission be deployed not to stabilise the illegal presence, but to uphold global standards and terminate it. The force will work as long as it enters the entire disputed land, including the West Bank, at the invitation of Palestine, and has a defined goal to conclude the presence within the framework of a sovereign Palestinian state.”

The draft contains no reference to the West Bank in the US draft resolution, or to a Palestinian state, or a peaceful resolution, a outcome that Israel rejects.

Ongoing Negotiations and Possible Risks

Detailed negotiations on the stabilisation force mandate, including its command and control, started formally on last week in New York, and look likely to be protracted – potentially creating the development of a power gap in the strip that may empower militant factions.

The US is suggesting that it lead the mission although it will not have a large number of personnel involved on the ground. It has already in effect taken control of the distribution of humanitarian aid into the territory from a new civil military coordination centre based in the neighboring country.

Mission Mandate and Administrative Function

The proposed American document outlines the purpose of the security mission as “along with the newly trained and screened law enforcement to assist in protecting border areas, stabilise the safety situation in Gaza by guaranteeing the process of disarming the territory including the elimination and blocking of rebuilding the militant and offensive infrastructure as well as the lasting removal of weapons from non-state armed groups”.

The mission, answerable to a “board of peace” led by the former US president, and not to the UN, would be mandated to use “any required actions” to fulfill its objectives.

Regional powers including Qatar are also worried that this authority is overly broad, and if Hamas is to lay down arms, the group will solely do so to fellow Palestinians, probably in the local law enforcement, at a time that, from the Hamas viewpoint, marks the end of Israeli presence.

They also fear the draft mandate spills into granting the stabilisation force a governance role in Gaza, a task that was to be set aside for a Palestinian technocratic committee working in conjunction with a reformed Palestinian Authority.

Humanitarian Considerations and Funding Issues

This “interim authority” in Gaza would stay until “the Palestinian Authority has adequately finished its restructuring plan, the approval of which shall be acceptable to the board of peace”, the proposal says. It also “emphasizes the importance” of full relief in the territory, including through the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the humanitarian organizations.

Nonetheless, it opens the door the exclusion of “any organisation determined to have improperly used such assistance”. The phrase permits the board of peace barring the UN relief agency, the body that the global judicial body has ruled is the lawful distributor of aid.

Global Political Initiatives

France and Saudi Arabia are already pressing for a reference to a sovereign Palestine to be added in the resolution. The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the US presidential residence on the specified date, 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 the French capital on Monday to review the PA role.

Neither the UN nor the 15-member security council are given a supervisory function over the mission, monitoring the implementation of the resolution, a aspect mostly overlooked by the draft text. Nothing is specified about the financing of this security operation, which, as per the US officials, should be mostly borne by Gulf states, with the Kingdom assuming primary responsibility.

Israeli Requests and Regional Developments

Israeli authorities is seeking written guarantees from the US that it be allowed to follow the model of Lebanon and retain the authority to re-enter the territory if it believes disarmament is not taking place at a level or speed it demands.

The request was presented to the former US advisor, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in Jerusalem on this week to discuss progress on the truce and Witkoff was scheduled to appear subsequently the same day.

Just the bodies of four of the initial hundreds of Israeli hostages are still unreturned.

Independently, Israeli officials has been proposing that the Gaza Strip could still be divided in two with rebuilding efforts beginning in the Israeli-controlled parts of the strip. International officials maintain that this is not part of the former US administration's proposal.