For years this conflict has taken over our history books and evening conversations with friends. With no real solution in site, many would enjoy simply hashing out the facts that they knew in order to try and see if maybe just maybe they would be able to find a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The history that stems back so far that most of us were not born at the time is biased and depends on the historian and the facts that lead to the modern day conflict follow suit. Essentially, there’s a few theories about what happened: the Palestinians were thrown out of their houses, the Palestinians gave their houses away willingly, the Israelis needed a place of their own after being persecuted in Europe and this land was the obvious choice based on scriptures, no one was there, the list is endless when it comes to theories and versions of what happened when the conflict began.

Now while violence is still taking place on Israeli/Palestinian land, diplomats from across the world are attempting to figure out what they could possibly do in order to fix the situation and find a common grown for both people to live peacefully. World leaders such as a very memorable Hugo Chavez took to the podium and proceeded to claim that he would cut ties with Israel because of the genocide it’s committing, with even less diplomacy left at his disposal he, on another occasion, accused George Bush of being the devil. Years later, the United Nations recognized Palestine as a “non-member state”, a huge leap in the Palestinian cause. The conflict that spanned through the ages has split the international realm in two and has left both sides with little to no options for peace.

Except recently.

The US secretary of state John Kerry has taken it upon himself to change the world and find a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He has made it his personal mission to create an atmosphere where negotiations will take place peacefully until both sides reach some sort of agreement. The meeting that will be held in Washington, and sponsored by the United States, is hoped to be the cornerstone for the end of this historical conflict. Although the world is very skeptical as to what will produce out of these talks, the idea of been there done that comes to mind. Peace talks were organized between both parties many times and they all ended in the same manner, but maybe this time it’ll be different.

Kerry is putting in every effort in order to ensure that these talks will go smoothly and put an end of the conflict, him along with Israeli Prime Minister and President Mahmoud Abbas are hopeful that this will be a new beginning for both their people. The pressure on these talks is high; if they don’t go as planned the options that both Israelis and the Palestinians will face are bleak and will most likely lead to more violence in the area and a lost of hope of ever coming together to reach an agreement. If these talks fail, it may well be a complete disaster for both sides.

The situation is not that simple, if it was a question of borders the solution would have been simple but aside from borders and land swapping the real issue is the questions of Jerusalem. Where will Jerusalem go and who will preside over it? This conundrum is the biggest obstacle with both Israelis and Palestinians drawing their roots back to the ancient city and seeing it as the capital of their respective countries. With Israel refusing to split the city, this will be a huge roadblock in the peace talks and we can only wait and see how Kerry will manoeuver around this very sensitive issue. Finally there’s the fate of 4.9 million Palestinian refugees from the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem and the diaspora who will remain homeless unless we go back to the pre-1948 borderlines.

This predicament is complicated in every sense of the word; no one has a clear idea of the history, the present or the future of the piece of land claimed by two peoples. The rest of the world which is wedged nicely in the middle of the problem are also at a loss, choosing sides would mean pointing the finger in the other direction with a series of accusations that would make your head spin which is why many choose to remain on the sidelines and hope that the situation will just solve itself. The beacon of hope we now have lies in John Kerry who is determined to put an end to the conflict and come to an agreement with both parties no matter how skeptical we all are about his abilities to do so. With the UN recognition and Netanyahu wanting to finish his last term with a bang, however, there is a little light of hope that they may well just come to terms with the issue and not just shake hands at the end of these talks but also sign agreements together. All we can do now is wait, watch and hope.