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Plans for an multinational security mission mandated by the United Nations to disarm the militant group in Gaza are facing growing opposition after the United Arab Emirates stated it would not join due to the lack of a clear legal structure.

Increasing International Reservations

Israel have previously excluded Turkish involvement, and the Jordanian King Abdullah has stated that his country's troops will not join. Azerbaijan, previously considered as a potential contributor, was absent from a planning session in Turkey and said it would not contribute unless a full ceasefire was in place.

Emirati officials lacks clarity on a defined structure for the stabilisation mission and in this situation will not participate, but backs all political efforts towards peace – and stay at the forefront of humanitarian aid.

Regional Skepticism and Legal Concerns

The Emirati announcement, delivered by senior envoy Dr Anwar Gargash at a conference in the UAE capital, highlights Arab reservations about the provisions of a American-proposed resolution previously distributed to diplomats at the UN in NYC. The draft assigns responsibility on a American-led security mission to be the principal means of imposing order in the territory after Israel have withdrawn from the region.

Regional governments would like expanded duties to be given to a distinct Palestinian law enforcement agency. International law would also prohibit external forces from deploying into occupied Palestinian territories unless there was clear Palestinian consent; without it, the mission could be seen as imposed under UN law, and arguably stabilising an unlawful Israeli occupation.

Local Viewpoints and Appeals for Clarity

A Palestinian American co-author of the Palestinian armistice plan said: “It is critical that the mission 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 enters the entire disputed land, including the occupied territories, at the invitation of Palestine, and has a clear goal to end the occupation within the context of a independent Palestinian state.”

There is no reference to the West Bank in the US draft resolution, or to a sovereign Palestine, or a peaceful resolution, a prospect that Israel rejects.

Continuing Negotiations and Potential Dangers

Detailed talks on the stabilisation force authority, including its command and control, began officially on Thursday in New York, and look likely to be lengthy – potentially creating the emergence of a power gap in the strip that may empower Hamas.

The US is proposing that it lead the mission although it will not have many personnel involved on the terrain. It has already effectively taken control of the delivery of relief supplies into Gaza from a recently established logistical hub based in the neighboring country.

Force Mandate and Administrative Function

The proposed US resolution outlines the aim of the stabilisation force as “along with the recently prepared and screened law enforcement to assist in protecting border areas, secure the security environment in the region by ensuring the process of disarming the territory including the elimination and prevention of rebuilding the militant and offensive infrastructure as well as the permanent decommissioning of arms from militant factions”.

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

Regional powers including Qatari officials are also worried that this authority is too expansive, and if Hamas is to disarm, the faction will only do so to fellow Palestinians, probably in the local law enforcement, at a moment that, from the militant perspective, marks the end of occupation.

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

Aid Aspects and Funding Issues

This “interim authority” in Gaza would stay until “the Palestinian Authority has satisfactorily completed its restructuring plan, the satisfaction of which shall be acceptable to the BoP”, the draft states. It also “emphasizes the importance” of full relief in Gaza, including through the UN, the ICRC, and the humanitarian organizations.

Nonetheless, it opens the door the removal of “any organisation determined to have improperly used such assistance”. The phrase leaves open the board of peace excluding Unrwa, the body that the international court of justice has said is the legal distributor of assistance.

International Political Efforts

France and Saudi representatives are currently pressing for a mention to a Palestinian state to be added in the document. 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 Palestinian state is a requirement.

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

Not the UN nor the 15-member security council are given a oversight function over the mission, supervising the implementation of the resolution, a aspect largely ignored by the draft text. No details is outlined about the funding of this security operation, which, according to the Americans, should be largely covered by regional nations, with Saudi Arabia taking the lead.

Israel's Demands and Regional Situations

Israeli authorities is requesting written guarantees from the United States that it be allowed to follow the pattern of the Lebanese situation and reserve the authority to return to Gaza if it believes demilitarization is not taking place at a level or pace it requires.

The Israeli proposal was presented to the former US advisor, the ex-president's son-in-law, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff. Kushner was in the Israeli capital on this week to review developments on the ceasefire and the envoy was scheduled to arrive subsequently the same day.

Just the bodies of four of the initial hundreds of Israeli hostages remain unreturned.

Separately, Israeli officials has been proposing that the Gaza Strip could still be divided in two parts with reconstruction work beginning in the Israel occupied areas of the strip. Western diplomats maintain that this is no part of the Trump plan.