While the world focuses on the horrors in Syria, trouble is once again brewing elsewhere in the Middle East.
In Israel, the defence minister, Avigdor Lieberman, has caused outrage by praising the Israeli soldiers who filmed themselves shooting at an unarmed Palestinian protester behind the border fence to Gaza, saying the sniper 'deserved a medal'.
Lieberman has form. The secular and very right-wing Moldovan-born West Bank settler has called in the past for the execution of Israeli Arabs who meet Hamas leaders.
And Israeli strategists have form when it comes to colourful and outrageous comments about Gaza, such as Dov Weisglass, the former henchman of Ariel Sharon, who said the point of withdrawing settlers in the Strip was to put the peace process in 'formaldehyde'.
And only last week, amid the ongoing clashes on the Gaza-Israel border, Lieberman was reported as saying in a radio interview that 'there are no innocents in Gaza', and that everyone living in the occupied territory had some connection to Hamas, the Islamist group which governs the Strip.
After this remark made headlines around the world, his office sought to clarify that he meant 'naive': the word in Hebrew can mean both 'innocent' and 'naive'.
Hebrew expert Dr Irene Lancaster confirms that the word, 'tamim', 'is used at the seder to mean the "innocent, naïve child who doesn't know how to ask". So Lieberman is absolutely correct.'
But she adds: 'Hebrew is a very sparse and direct language which is often used incorrectly by those of Russian origin for whom it is incredibly difficult.'
It should be said that Lieberman is not representative of all of the pluralist country he supposedly serves. The Israeli human rights agency B'Tselem has urged soldiers to disobey orders to shoot at unarmed civilians. And the highly important, under-reported group of anti-occupation former Israeli soldiers, 'Breaking the Silence', collects testimonies of the grave effects – including on the soldiers – of such incidents.
But in a move typical of the Israeli leadership's disregard for accountability, the Israeli Defence Force has since confirmed the authenticity of the footage, which it says was filmed on December 22 – amid protests over the US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital – and has pledged disciplinary action over its leaking, while the shooting itself has been deemed exemplary.
More recently, at least 30 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops in the protests. Last Friday, video-journalist Yasser Murtaja, 31, was shot dead despite wearing a flak jacket with clear press markings as he filmed in thick black smoke from burning tyres set alight by protesters in Khuzaa, east of Khan Yunis.
There looks to be trouble ahead in Gaza, after the wars of 2008, 2012 and 2014 – bouts of what Israeli strategists have in the past called 'mowing the grass' in the enclave.
The current protest is currently set to continue until May 15, Nakba Day or 'day of catastrophe' marking the 70<sup>th aniversary of the creation of the State of Israel when many Palestinians were forced to flee their homes – the protests are partly about the 'right of return'. The next day Trump is scheduled controversially to defy Palestinian protests by transferring the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
That could be the point at which a deadly climax is reached in this particular chapter of the world's most intractable conflict.
According to The Observer, one Hamas source said an attempt to encourage a break across the border on Nakba day is being discussed, but no decision has been taken.
Much would then depend on how Israel under prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu responds.
On the one hand, Israel could ease the decade-long blockade of Gaza.
On the other – and if the likes of Lieberman have their way – another war cannot be ruled out.
But what is clear, when the defence minister calls for a soldier who shot an unarmed Palestinian to be awarded a medal, is that the world cannot turn a blind eye to the mass prison camp that is Gaza for much longer.
