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Another disappointment

May 21,2018 - Last updated at May 21,2018

The international community witnessed a series of meetings in the wake of the killings of scores of Palestinians along the Gaza borders, the worst of which occurred last Monday, when more than 60 Palestinian protesters were gunned down by Israeli forces.

It was first the UN Security Council that reacted to the mass killings last week, but failed to adopt even a benign resolution calling for a probe into the killings due to a US veto. Then, it was the UN Human Rights Council's (UNHCR) turn, which managed to adopt a resolution calling for a "commission of inquiry” to provide recommendations aiming to protect Palestinian civilians from any further assaults.

This is an open-ended resolution that cannot be expected to see the light of day or be translated into anything meaningful on the situation along the Gaza borders with Israel. The very idea of creating a commission of inquiry is a tedious and acrimonious task, fraught with all sorts of impediments.

The UNHRC resolution sounds like a "broken record" that replicates previous similar resolutions adopted by it, but never saw the light. 

This leaves the extraordinary summit of the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which was held in Istanbul on Friday, upon the request of Turkey. The final communique of the summit was, likewise, more abstract than real. It has called for extending international protection for the Palestinians by creating an international force for this purpose.

Surely, the OIC knows, or should know, that this call, while honourable, is not realistic given the realities on the international arena. Establishing an international force to protect the Palestinians is almost an impossible mission under existing circumstances.

All in all, the international efforts to deal with the carnage  along the Gaza border can be viewed as academic rather than realistic, especially when they all require the consent and cooperation of Israel. That is not what the Palestinians were waiting for.

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