Full Length Research THE CURRENT WAR ON GAZA: A CHALLENGE TO THE PRINCIPLE OF „THE RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT‟ Endalcachew Bayeh Department of Civics and Ethical Studies, College of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ambo University, Ambo, Ethiopia. Email: endbayeh@gmail.com Accepted 19 October 2014 The current Israel-Palestine conflict on Gaza has erupted early July to avert the rockets fired to southern Israel. The conflict has been exacerbated by the killing of three Israeli teenagers. The conflict intensified and caused the loss of the life of many civilians and destruction of huge materials. Both parties failed to protect civilians. In such circumstances, the principle of “The Responsibility to Protect” requires the international community to step in and safeguard civilians. However, the international community has not taken significant measure to halt the ongoing war on Gaza. And, still the war continues despite the fragile ceasefire agreements. This article argues that for normalization of the two countries‟ relations and, thus, protection of civilians from suffer international community needs to take a timely military intervention. If UN had deployed military on the area, the current causalities would not have been happened. Thus, the inaction of international community depicts the absence of genuine application of the principle of R2P, which is merely theoretical. Key words: Civilian casualties, Current war, Gaza, Israel, Military intervention, Palestine, The Responsibility to Protect Cite This Article As: Bayeh E (2014). The Current War on Gaza: A Challenge to the Principle of „The Responsibility to Protect‟. Inter. J. Polit. Sci. Develop. 2(9): 205-210. Acronyms PLO Palestine Liberation Organization R2P The Responsibility to Protect UN United Nations UNRWA United Nations Relief and Works Agency UNSCOP UN established Special Commission on Palestine International Journal of Political Science and Development Vol. 2(9), pp. 205-210, October 2014 ISSN: 2360-784X© 2014 Academic Research Journals http://www.academicresearchjournals.org/IJPSD/Index.html