All members of the UN Security Council despite their conflicting geopolitical interests in Syria could agree to a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire around the principles Camilleri proposes. So why haven't they taken action to stop the carnage and halt the colossal human tragedy which they condemn? 

Meanwhile Syria, a fabrication of European colonialism, has crumbled into rival Islamist and aggressive jihadist groups including the new rogue Islamic State whose fighters are also establishing a Syrian foothold along Israel's borders in the eastern Golan Heights. They may not be a strategic threat to anyone but as one recent commentator wrote in the New York Times their medieval style beheadings in chilling real time media releases are designed to shock the civilized world through emotional blackmail into surrendering to their demands.

The Syrian folly could have been prevented, if not for the joker in the pack which, of course, is the Islamist Republic of Iran which seeks a place in the sun through the acquisition of a nuclear capability that the US and its Western allies seek to deny.

This same Iran may very well be the only power able to bring the Assad and the Islamists and the Jihadists with whom he is warring behind a ceasefire called by a UN Security Council Resolution.

Israel has a vital interest in seeing peace and stability restored to its northern border. But this may achieved at the price of seeing a rehabilitated Assad restored to power over all of Syria. Past experience has proven this may not be so bad for Israeli interests. But, more dramatically, it may also mean finally shelving all Israeli plans for a military strike and coming to an accommodation with a legitimate and unfriendly regional power in their neighbourhood .