Globally, the major problem is within the UN itself, because of the inefficient and unbalanced set of interests and powers in the Security Council.(1) To prevent tragedies like the one in Gaza, international security issues must be in hands of more countries than the ones that control the UN Security Council right now. The UN was formed after WW II, when the World was a bipolar geopolitical game, with the US and the Soviet Union as the major players. If the United Nations wants to solve and prevent conflicts like the one in the Middle East, the Security Council has to be reorganized and some basic measures taken, so it works according to our "multipolar" times.

a) The biggest problem is that there are ten rotating elected non-permanent members in the Security Council (currently, Burkina Faso, Libya, Viet Nam, Costa Rica, Croatia, Austria, Japan, Mexico, Turkey and Uganda) and FIVE PERMANENT MEMBERS THAT CAN VETO MANY DECISIONS BY CASTING A NEGATIVE VOTE AGAINST IMPORTANT RESOLUTIONS -China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States:

"Decisions on substantive matters require nine votes, including the concurring votes of all five permanent members. This is the rule of 'great Power unanimity', often referred to as the 'veto' power."(2)

If these countries want to promote peace and real democratic governments around the globe, they have to let the UN change and become democratic itself. That will prevent a few wars or at least allow their rapid ending. With the so called "great Power unanimity", it's almost impossible to solve any conflict that can affect one of the five permanent members, which is the case of Israel and the US,(3, 4, 5), because the veto power enables "them to prevent the adoption of any 'substantive' draft Council resolution, regardless of the level of international support for the draft".(6)

b) Unconditional support from the five permanent members to whatever countries that want to illegally (if not illegitimately) exercise their "right" to hold "preventive wars" on someone else has to be eradicated. No matter how justified a war can seem to a country, propaganda and mass media can always play an important role in public opinion, which means that a view on an apparently justified war might be biased.(7)

With the "veto power" the functions and powers(8) of the Security Council are nothing but failure in many cases:

# to maintain international peace and security in accordance with the principles and purposes of the United Nations (close to impossible);

# to investigate any dispute or situation which might lead to international friction (biased in some cases);

# to recommend methods of adjusting such disputes or the terms of settlement (biased in some cases);

# to formulate plans for the establishment of a system to regulate armaments (biased and directed by an obsolete bipolar scheme);

# to determine the existence of a threat to the peace or act of aggression and to recommend what action should be taken (biased if it affects one of the permanent members or its allies);

# to call on Members to apply economic sanctions and other measures not involving the use of force to prevent or stop aggression (biased and unlikely if a permanent member is involved directly or it affects its allies in a negative way);

# to take military action against an aggressor (very likely but biased);

c) Without exception, countries that break international laws have to be punished equally, severely and as soon as possible. If not, other countries' leaders might feel tempted to do what they please, knowing that there won't be any punishment if they make a deal with one of the permanent members.

d) In the very specific case of Israel-Palestine, the problem will have long lasting effects on people, so hatred, discrimination and occasional violence between groups will be there for a long time, even if the territorial conflict ends soon.

Perhaps reorganizing the Security Council wouldn't solve all problems, but it would certainly prevent many of them or at least lower their intensity and damage.
Source(s):
1. MELVERN, Linda, "The Security Council: Behind the Scenes", International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944-), Vol. 77, No. 1, Jan., 2001, pp. 101-111.
2. http://www.un.org/sc/members.asp
3. http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/membship/veto/vetosubj.htm
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_veto_power#Mos...
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_and_the_United_Nations#Sources_o...
6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_veto_power
7. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6169669.stm
8. http://www.un.org/Docs/sc/unsc_functions.html

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