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Proposals for an international stabilisation force authorized by the United Nations to demilitarize the militant group in the Gaza Strip are encountering growing resistance after the United Arab Emirates stated it would not join due to the absence of a clear legal framework.

Increasing International Concerns

Israeli authorities have already excluded Turkey involvement, and Jordan's King Abdullah has stated that Jordanian forces will not join. Azerbaijan, previously mooted as a potential participant, did not attend a planning meeting in Turkey and indicated it would not take part unless a complete truce was established.

The UAE does not yet see a clear framework for the stability force and under such circumstances declines involvement, but backs all political initiatives towards resolution – and remain at the vanguard of relief efforts.

Arab Doubts and Legal Issues

The UAE's announcement, made by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in the UAE capital, reflects Arab reservations about the terms of a US-drafted document already distributed to diplomats at the UN in NYC. The draft places an onus on a US-directed stabilisation force to be the principal means of ensuring order in Gaza after Israel have left the territory.

Regional governments would like greater responsibilities to be given to a distinct Palestinian civilian police force. International law would also forbid external forces from entering contested Palestine unless there was explicit Palestinian consent; otherwise, the force could be viewed as coercive under UN law, and potentially stabilising an unlawful Israeli occupation.

Local Viewpoints and Calls for Clarity

A Palestinian American co-author of the Palestinian armistice plan said: “It is essential that the force be deployed not to stabilise the illegal presence, but to enforce global standards and end it. The force will succeed as long as it enters the whole occupied territory, including the occupied territories, at the request of Palestine, and has a defined objective to end the presence within the framework of a sovereign Palestinian state.”

There is no mention to the West Bank in the American proposal, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a two-state solution, a prospect that Israel opposes.

Ongoing Negotiations and Potential Dangers

Detailed talks on the stabilisation force authority, including its command and control, began formally on Thursday in New York, and look likely to be lengthy – risking the development of a vacuum in Gaza that may strengthen militant factions.

The US is proposing that it lead the force although it will not have many troops involved on the terrain. It has previously effectively taken control of the delivery of humanitarian aid into the territory from a recently established civil military coordination centre based in the neighboring country.

Force Mandate and Administrative Function

The proposed US resolution outlines the aim of the security mission as “together with the newly trained and screened police force to help secure frontier zones, secure the safety situation in Gaza by ensuring the process of demilitarising the Gaza Strip including the elimination and blocking of reconstructing the militant and hostile facilities as well as the lasting removal of arms from non-state armed groups”.

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

Arab states including Qatar are also concerned that this authority is too expansive, and if Hamas is to lay down arms, the group will solely do so to local counterparts, probably in the civilian police force, at a moment that, from the Hamas viewpoint, signifies the end of occupation.

They also worry the proposed authority extends to granting the stabilisation force a governance role in Gaza, a task that was to be reserved for a local technocratic committee working in cooperation with a restructured local government.

Aid Considerations and Financial Questions

This “transitional governance administration” in Gaza would remain until “the Palestinian Authority has satisfactorily completed its restructuring plan, the approval of which shall be acceptable to the BoP”, the draft states. It also “emphasizes the significance” of full relief in Gaza, including through the United Nations, the ICRC, and the Red Crescent.

However, it opens the door the removal of “any organisation found to have misused such assistance”. The wording permits the council excluding Unrwa, the body that the international court of justice has ruled is the legal distributor of aid.

Global Political Efforts

France and Saudi representatives are already pressing for a mention to a Palestinian state to be included in the document. The Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, is due in the White House on the specified date, and Manal Radwan has stated that a reference to a Palestinian state is a requirement.

The PA chair, Mahmoud Abbas, met the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on Monday to discuss the PA role.

Not the United Nations nor the 15 strong security council are assigned a oversight function over the stabilisation force, monitoring the implementation of the resolution, a aspect largely ignored by the draft text. Nothing is outlined about the funding of this security operation, which, according to the US officials, should be mostly borne by regional nations, with the Kingdom assuming primary responsibility.

Israel's Requests and Local Situations

Israeli authorities is seeking written guarantees from the US that it be allowed to follow the model of the Lebanese situation and reserve the authority to re-enter the territory if it considers demilitarization is not occurring at a level or speed it demands.

The request was presented to Jared Kushner, the ex-president's relative, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in the Israeli capital on this week to discuss progress on the truce and Witkoff was scheduled to appear subsequently the that day.

Only the bodies of four of the original 251 captives are still unreturned.

Independently, Israeli officials has been suggesting that the Gaza Strip could yet be divided in two parts with reconstruction work beginning in the Israel occupied areas of the strip. International officials maintain that this is not part of the former US administration's proposal.