Renewed diplomacy is urgently needed to prevent another Gaza war | Jane Kinninmont

Human rights should be at the centre of a push for peace, focusing on respect for international law and ending the occupation

The war in Gaza this month was the third war since 2008, and there have been other rounds of fighting in between. In between the wars there is no peace, as Palestinians live under various forms of occupation in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. Diplomats and western media seem to be pointing to these underlying problems more often than in the past, in part because US progressives are starting to see parallels with civil rights and apartheid. But, so far, the ceasefire seems to have brought only a return to business as usual. As just one example, the recent flare-up in violence began with the planned eviction of Palestinian families in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah. These evictions are still being considered, along with others in the neighbourhood of Silwan.

Palestinians and Israelis working for peace and human rights are worried that the world will look away now the rockets and air raids have stopped. This creates terrible incentives for the parties on the ground. Palestinian nonviolent action barely registers. When Donald Trump announced a vision for peace", where Israel would keep all its settlements and have sovereignty over the whole of Jerusalem, western analysts mused that the Palestinian - and broader Arab - response seemed muted. As a young Palestinian activist in the West Bank told me that week: Europe measures us only by how many of us go to the streets and get shot.