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Plans for an multinational security mission mandated by the United Nations to demilitarize Hamas in the Gaza Strip are facing increasing opposition after the United Arab Emirates stated it would not join due to the absence of a clear legal structure.

Growing International Reservations

Israel have already excluded Turkish participation, and Jordan's King Abdullah has stated that his country's forces will not join. Azerbaijan, once considered as a potential participant, did not attend a planning session in Istanbul and indicated it would not contribute unless a full truce was in place.

Emirati officials does not yet see a defined framework for the stabilisation force and under such circumstances will not participate, but backs all political efforts towards resolution – and stay at the forefront of humanitarian aid.

Regional Doubts and Legal Concerns

The UAE's decision, delivered by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a forum in the UAE capital, reflects Arab reservations about the provisions of a American-proposed resolution previously distributed to delegates at the UN in New York. The draft assigns responsibility on a US-directed stabilisation force to be the principal means of ensuring order in Gaza after Israeli forces have left the region.

Regional governments would like greater duties to be assigned to a distinct Palestinian law enforcement agency. Global jurisprudence would also prohibit foreign troops from deploying into occupied Palestinian territories unless there was explicit local approval; otherwise, the force could be viewed as imposed under international statutes, and potentially reinforcing an unlawful Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Perspectives and Calls for Clarity

Jamal Nusseibeh of the Palestinian armistice plan said: “It is essential that the mission be deployed not to reinforce the illegal presence, but to enforce international law and end it. The force will work as long as it enters the whole disputed land, including the occupied territories, at the request of the Palestinian authorities, and has a defined goal to conclude the presence within the framework of a independent 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 rejects.

Continuing Discussions and Potential Dangers

In-depth talks on the mission authority, including its command and control, started formally on last week in New York, and look likely to be lengthy – potentially creating the emergence of a vacuum in the strip that may empower Hamas.

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 previously in effect assumed command of the distribution of relief supplies into Gaza from a recently established civil military coordination centre based in the neighboring country.

Force Objectives and Governance Function

The draft American document outlines the purpose of the stabilisation force as “together with the recently prepared and screened law enforcement to help secure border areas, stabilise the security environment in the region by ensuring the procedure of demilitarising the territory including the elimination and prevention of rebuilding the military terror and offensive infrastructure as well as the permanent removal of weapons from non-state armed groups”.

The mission, answerable to a “peace council” led by the former US president, and not to the UN, would be required to use “all necessary measures” to fulfill its goals.

Arab states including Qatar are also concerned that this authority is overly broad, and if Hamas is to lay down arms, the faction will only do so to fellow Palestinians, likely in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the militant viewpoint, signifies the end of occupation.

They also worry the proposed authority extends to granting the stabilisation force a governance function in Gaza, a responsibility that was to be set aside for a local expert panel working in conjunction with a reformed local government.

Aid Aspects and Financial Questions

This “transitional governance administration” in the strip would remain until “the local government has adequately completed its reform program, the approval of which shall be approved to the BoP”, the draft says. It also “underscores the importance” of unhindered humanitarian aid in the territory, including through the United Nations, the ICRC, and the humanitarian organizations.

However, it opens the door the removal of “any organisation determined to have improperly used such aid”. The wording permits the board of peace barring Unrwa, the body that the international court of justice has ruled is the legal distributor of aid.

Global Political Initiatives

France and Saudi Arabia are currently pressing for a reference to a Palestinian state 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 Manal Radwan has stated that a mention to a Palestinian state is a prerequisite.

The Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, held talks with the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, in the French capital on this week to discuss the authority's function.

Neither the United Nations nor the 15-member UNSC are given a oversight role over the mission, monitoring the execution of the proposal, a point largely ignored by the proposed document. No details is outlined about the funding of this stabilisation mission, which, according to the Americans, should be largely borne by Gulf states, with the Kingdom taking the lead.

Israeli Demands and Local Situations

Israeli authorities is requesting written guarantees from the United States that it be allowed to emulate the pattern of the Lebanese situation and retain the authority to re-enter the territory if it believes disarmament is not taking place at a scale or speed it demands.

The request was put to Jared Kushner, the ex-president's son-in-law, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. The advisor was in Jerusalem on this week to discuss progress on the truce and Witkoff was scheduled to arrive subsequently the same day.

Just the bodies of a small number of the initial 251 captives remain unreturned.

Separately, Israel has been suggesting that the Gaza Strip could yet be divided in two parts with reconstruction work beginning in the Israel occupied parts of the region. International officials insist that this is no part of the Trump plan.