By Yossi Mekelberg

Combing through UN Security Council Resolution 2803, I began to question whether it is the case of the international community purposefully coming together to achieve the elusive objective of at last resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or just another mirage? The proposal’s first aim is to consolidate the ceasefire in Gaza and then outline a path for ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but it is vague on details and deadlines.

Admittedly, the success of the mediators to “encourage” Israel and Hamas to agree to a ceasefire deserves praise, even if long overdue. Yet, since the truce came into force at the beginning of October, at least 340 Palestinians and three Israeli soldiers have been killed, which can hardly suggest that Gaza is more secure or that its population should be convinced by what the international community has to offer.

At the end of the day, this resolution, as many before it in relation to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, will be judged by results, not by its good intentions. The plan’s vagueness about its objectives or the path to achieving them leaves too many doubts about the political will and readiness to invest the diplomatic, intellectual, and physical resources needed to translate them into reality. To start from the end, there is no ironclad pledge of a two-state solution, but instead it sets out a series of conditions that, if fulfilled, may be “a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood.”

Hardly a convincing incentive, as it suggests........

© Eurasia Review