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Proposals for an international security mission authorized by the United Nations to disarm Hamas in Gaza are facing increasing opposition after the United Arab Emirates stated it would not take part due to the lack of a clear legal framework.

Increasing International Concerns

Israel have already excluded Turkish participation, and Jordan's King Abdullah has stated that his country's troops will not join. Azerbaijan, previously mooted as a potential contributor, was absent from a preparatory session in Istanbul and said it would not take part unless a complete truce was established.

Emirati officials does not yet see a defined framework for the stability mission and under such circumstances declines involvement, but backs all political initiatives towards resolution – and stay at the vanguard of relief efforts.

Arab Doubts and Legal Issues

The UAE's decision, made by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in Abu Dhabi, reflects regional doubts about the provisions of a American-proposed resolution already circulated to delegates at the UN in NYC. The proposal assigns responsibility on a US-directed security mission to be the primary means of imposing security in the territory after Israel have withdrawn from the region.

Regional governments would like expanded duties to be given to a distinct local civilian police force. Global jurisprudence would also forbid foreign troops from deploying into contested Palestinian territories unless there was clear local approval; otherwise, the force could be viewed as coercive under international statutes, and potentially reinforcing an illegal presence.

Palestinian Perspectives and Calls for Clarity

A Palestinian American co-author of the ceasefire proposal commented: “It is essential that the force be deployed not to reinforce the unlawful Israeli occupation, but to enforce international law and end it. The mission will succeed as long as it operates in the entire occupied territory, including the occupied territories, at the request of the Palestinian authorities, and has a clear objective to conclude the presence within the framework of a independent state of Palestine.”

The draft contains no mention to the West Bank in the US draft resolution, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a peaceful resolution, a prospect that Israeli leadership rejects.

Ongoing Discussions and Potential Risks

In-depth talks on the mission mandate, including its leadership structure, started formally on Thursday in the UN headquarters, and appear to be protracted – potentially creating the development of a power gap in the strip that may empower militant factions.

The US is proposing that it lead the force although it will not have a large number of personnel deployed on the terrain. It has previously effectively assumed command 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 proposed American document defines the aim of the stabilisation force as “together with the newly trained and screened law enforcement to assist in protecting border areas, secure the safety situation in Gaza by guaranteeing the process of demilitarising the territory including the elimination and blocking of rebuilding the military terror and offensive infrastructure as well as the permanent decommissioning of arms from non-state armed groups”.

The mission, reporting to a “peace council” chaired by Donald Trump, and not to the UN, would be mandated to use “any required actions” to achieve its objectives.

Regional powers including Qatar are also worried that this mandate is overly broad, and if the group is to disarm, the faction will only do so to local counterparts, likely in the local law enforcement, at a time that, from the militant perspective, signifies the end of Israeli presence.

They also fear the draft mandate spills into giving the stabilisation force a administrative role in the territory, a responsibility that was to be reserved for a Palestinian technocratic committee working in cooperation with a restructured Palestinian Authority.

Aid Aspects and Financial Questions

This “transitional governance administration” in Gaza would remain until “the Palestinian Authority has satisfactorily completed its restructuring plan, the satisfaction of which shall be acceptable to the board of peace”, the proposal states. It also “emphasizes the importance” of unhindered relief in Gaza, including through the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Red Crescent.

Nonetheless, it opens the door the exclusion of “any group determined to have misused such assistance”. The phrase leaves open the council barring the UN relief agency, the body that the international court of justice has said is the lawful provider of aid.

International Political Initiatives

French officials and Saudi Arabia are currently pressing for a mention to a sovereign Palestine to be included in the document. The Saudi leader, 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 president, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on Monday to review the authority's function.

Not the United Nations nor the 15 strong UNSC are assigned a supervisory role over the mission, monitoring the execution of the resolution, a aspect largely overlooked by the proposed document. No details is specified about the financing of this security operation, which, according to the Americans, should be mostly covered by Gulf states, with the Kingdom assuming primary responsibility.

Israel's Requests and Regional Developments

Israeli authorities is requesting formal assurances from the United States that it be permitted to emulate the model of Lebanon and reserve the authority to re-enter Gaza if it considers disarmament is not taking place at a scale or pace it requires.

The request was presented to the former US advisor, the ex-president's son-in-law, and the American diplomat, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in Jerusalem on Monday to discuss progress on the truce and the envoy was due to arrive later the that day.

Just the bodies of four of the original hundreds of Israeli hostages remain not recovered.

Separately, Israeli officials has been proposing that the Gaza Strip could still be split in two with rebuilding efforts starting in the Israel occupied parts of the strip. International officials maintain that this is no part of the former US administration's proposal.