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Proposals for an international security mission mandated by the United Nations to disarm Hamas in Gaza are encountering growing resistance after the United Arab Emirates announced it would not join due to the absence of a well-defined legal structure.

Increasing Global Reservations

Israel have previously ruled out Turkish participation, and Jordan's King Abdullah has declared that Jordanian forces will not participate. The Azerbaijani government, previously mooted as a potential participant, did not attend a preparatory meeting in Turkey and indicated it would not contribute unless a full truce was in place.

Emirati officials does not yet see a defined structure for the stabilisation mission and under such circumstances declines involvement, but will support all diplomatic efforts towards resolution – and stay at the vanguard of humanitarian aid.

Regional Doubts and Juridical Issues

The UAE's decision, made by diplomatic representative Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in the UAE capital, highlights regional doubts about the provisions of a US-drafted document already circulated to delegates at the UN in NYC. The proposal assigns responsibility on a US-directed security mission to be the principal means of imposing security in Gaza after Israeli forces have left the territory.

Arab states would like greater duties to be assigned to a separate local civilian police force. Global jurisprudence would also prohibit external forces from entering occupied Palestine unless there was explicit Palestinian consent; without it, the force could be seen as imposed under international statutes, and potentially stabilising an illegal Israeli occupation.

Local Viewpoints and Calls for Clarity

Jamal Nusseibeh of the ceasefire proposal said: “It is essential that the force be sent not to stabilise the illegal presence, but to enforce global standards and terminate it. The mission will succeed as long as it enters the entire disputed land, including the West Bank, at the request of Palestine, and has a clear objective to end the presence within the framework of a independent Palestinian state.”

There is no reference to the occupied territories in the American proposal, or to a Palestinian state, or a two-state solution, a outcome that Israeli leadership rejects.

Ongoing Negotiations and Potential Dangers

In-depth talks on the mission mandate, including its leadership structure, began officially on Thursday in the UN headquarters, and look likely to be lengthy – risking the development of a power gap in Gaza that may strengthen militant factions.

The United States is suggesting that it lead the mission although it will not have a large number of troops deployed on the terrain. It has already effectively assumed command of the distribution of humanitarian aid into Gaza from a new civil military coordination centre based in the neighboring country.

Force Mandate and Administrative Role

The proposed US resolution defines the purpose of the security mission as “together with the recently prepared and screened law enforcement to help secure frontier zones, stabilise the security environment in Gaza by ensuring the procedure of demilitarising the territory including the destruction and prevention of reconstructing the military terror and offensive infrastructure as well as the lasting decommissioning of arms from non-state armed groups”.

The force, answerable to a “peace council” led by the former US president, and not to the United Nations, would be mandated to use “any required actions” to achieve its goals.

Regional powers including Qatar are also worried that this authority is too expansive, and if the group is to disarm, the group will solely do so to local counterparts, likely in the civilian police force, at a moment that, from the Hamas perspective, marks the end of Israeli presence.

They also fear the proposed authority extends to granting the mission a administrative function in the territory, a task that was to be reserved for a Palestinian expert panel working in cooperation with a reformed local government.

Humanitarian Considerations and Funding Issues

This “transitional governance administration” in the strip would remain until “the local government has satisfactorily completed its restructuring plan, the satisfaction of which shall be approved to the BoP”, the draft states. It also “emphasizes the importance” of unhindered relief in Gaza, including through the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Red Crescent.

Nonetheless, it allows for the exclusion of “any group determined to have improperly used such aid”. The wording leaves open the council barring the UN relief agency, the organization that the international court of justice has ruled is the legal distributor of assistance.

International Political Efforts

French officials and Saudi representatives are currently pressing for a mention to a Palestinian state to be added in the document. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the US presidential residence on the specified date, and a Saudi foreign ministry official has stated that a reference to a Palestinian state is a prerequisite.

The PA chair, Mahmoud Abbas, held talks with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on Monday to review the PA role.

Neither the United Nations nor the 15 strong security council are given a oversight function over the mission, monitoring the execution of the proposal, a aspect mostly overlooked by the proposed document. Nothing is outlined about the funding of this stabilisation mission, which, according to the US officials, should be largely covered by Gulf states, with the Kingdom assuming primary responsibility.

Israeli Demands and Regional Situations

Israeli authorities is requesting formal assurances from the US that it be permitted to follow the pattern of Lebanon and reserve the right to return to Gaza if it considers disarmament is not occurring at a scale or pace it requires.

The request was put to the former US advisor, the ex-president's relative, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in Jerusalem on Monday to review developments on the truce and Witkoff was scheduled to appear subsequently the that day.

Just the bodies of four of the initial 251 Israeli hostages are still unreturned.

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