The author is Milbank Professor of International Law Emeritus, Princeton University, and former special rapporteur for the UN Human Rights Council on occupied Palestine.    ISTANBUL  Rarely has the crystal ball used to divine the near future seemed so clouded by uncertainties. The year 2024 was dominated by disappointments, disturbing surprises, and continuing devastation in Ukraine and Gaza. It was also a year that underscored the inability of the UN to stop the most transparent genocide ever