The quest for peace between the Palestinians and Israelis is fast fading into oblivion as Israeli forces have killed 62 Palestinians and wounded at least 200 in Gaza in a bloody protest over the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem on Monday.
The Palestinians are furious with the US, the arbiter between them and the Israelis when President Trump announced in December the US will move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The Palestinians have been protesting since.
International condemnation greeted the US decision. Israeli snipers have killed dozens and wounded more than 1,700 when firing on demonstrators, according to Gaza’s ministry of health. The crisis is being compounded from all indications.
“To the rioters, you are taking part in violent riots that jeopardize your lives,” the army said in leaflets dropped by jets on Monday. “Save yourselves and prioritize building your future.”
No Israeli has been harmed since Palestinians began protesting on 30 March. Organisers have called for an end to a decade-old Israeli-imposed blockade, and for refugees and their descendants to be allowed to return to their ancestral homes.
While many countries and the United Nations have condemned the Israelis action and high-handedness, the US has stayed mute. The relocation of the US embassy ironically coincided with Palestinians commemoration of the “Nakba”, or catastrophe, the 1948 expulsion of over 700,000 Palestinians from their homes in the war that led to the creation of Israel.
Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said on Monday that the US “has chosen to be a part of the problem rather than the solution”, while the Arab League planned to hold an extraordinary meeting to discuss the “illegal” embassy relocation.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been going on for decades with no sign of resolution in sight because all sides are not willing to concede and those mediating are biased and unfair leading to distrust and lack of enthusiasm to negotiate. Secondly, the Israeli with the active support of the US have been flagrantly violating all resolutions of the United Nations on the conflict.
The actions of the President Trump administration so far on the conflict has been one-sided in favour of the Israelis in a clear negation of its role a the biggest mediator on the crisis
