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Such a regional cease-fire needs to include Lebanon, Yemen, Iran, and Israel, as well as the waterways on the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf and of course Gaza and the West Bank. Multinational peacekeeping forces might be required, especially in occupied Gaza and the West Bank, to ensure compliance by the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Six months of U.S. foot-dragging has left death and misery in the Palestinian areas, and there is no doubt that the toxicity of the lack of a solution to the Palestinian conflict helped push Iran to its unprecedented, albeit limited, act by a non-Arab country against Israel. The danger of a regional war is now much more serious, and the American foot-dragging that resulted in such devastation in Gaza will not work this time either.

When the U.S. and other Western countries moved in to save Israel, they took risks and therefore they have a right to demand a de-escalation. If Israel doesn’t heed U.S. advice and the region falls into a vicious round of violence, the world community, represented by the U.N. Security Council, needs to intervene.