Issues surrounding Israel-Palestine are never far from the news due to their history, vehemence and complication.
The most recent moves towards 'peace talks' seem to ensure that this pattern will continue as US Sec. of State John Kerry tries to get the opposing sides round a table.
These peace efforts are to be applauded, but they, even more so than previous efforts, would appear to be dead in the water.
Starting with the Palestinians, their power base is fractured, with nationalist Fatah controlling the West Bank and Islamic fundamentalist Hamas having Gaza.
However, despite these differences, the groups appear to be uniting around certain aims.
Hamas has in the past few years moved away from the both condemnatory language in its charter and military action in both Israel and the disputed territories, whilst Fatah now tries to emphasise Islamic ideals.
Both groups appear happier to talk to Israel but also remain determined to establish a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
These are momentous changes for groups that until recently were hell-bent on Israel's destruction and whose members still don't see that Israel's survival is a necessity for peace talks to create any solutions.
Secondly, Israel, which has continued to build settlements that are recognised as illegal under international law as they are beyond the famous 'green line', the borders decided on in 1948.
These sites, which extend to within a few miles of the border with Jordan, are built upon land that was occupied by Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967.
Many Orthodox Jews claim the land is theirs due to biblical mandate, but despite this the settlements remain incredibly unpopular amongst most Israelis.
However, under current Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, who has only been in power since 2009, settlement growth has increased by 300%, with over 6,000 new houses approved for construction in 2012 alone.
The reason for this continued growth has a lot to do with the third nation who hovers over every Middle East peace attempt.
The US is of course the premier force and only superpower in the world today.
Obama's attempts at foreign policy appear increasingly frantic and misguided, partly due to his lame duck status and partly due to the loss of Hillary Clinton, who did an excellent job steering the State Department until earlier this year.
However Obama has a precedent to follow as any attempt to create peace in the Promised Land over the last few decades has been spearheaded by a US administration, be it Carter in 1978, Clinton in 1994 or Bush in 2007-8.
The optimist says they do it for peace, the pessimist says they do it for a better legacy, the realist says they do it because only they can.
Whatever their motivation, their objectivity has always been in doubt.
With powerful groups in the US (AIPAC and evangelical Christians being the most obvious) holding campaign dollars for Democrats and Republicans who want to run for everything from small-town Mayor to President, the influence of these groups is immense.
Obama, Kerry and others will of course want peace in the Middle East, but to say that they have no thought to their party's appeal to the pro-Israel lobby in America is sheer ignorance.
Any move that shows overt support for Palestine or that threatens the existence of settlements or (and this is truly ridiculous) the possibility of the loss of Jerusalem will be met with a clear cold shoulder and a distinct lack of cash come 2016 (though campaigning for the Presidency has already started!).
With all this already clear, the results of the talks can already sadly be predicted.
They will fail, and potentially both sides will be to blame.
Israeli and Palestinian delegates have already started to meet, but the talks will falter with the Palestinians wanting Israeli settlements to go and the Israeli's claiming the Palestinians aren't open to dialogue.
Alternatively the Palestinians will demand the 'right of return' (a term from international law) for those who were displaced in both 1948 and 1967, something the Israelis will not be able to accept due to threats to its sovereignty.
Indeed it was this factor that led to the failure of the 2008 discussions which so nearly achieved a form of peace agreement.
Finally, it is important to say that the results of the failure will be much worse for Israel than for Palestine.
Netanyahu will continue to argue against international law for the right for the settlements to exist whilst the Israeli Defense Forces will continue to demolish homes and arrest people for throwing stones at them.
And all that against a people group who have the overwhelming support of the region and who can draw on support from them and the wider members of the Arab League.
This is not to suggest that another Intifada is on the horizon but it does raise the issue of what will happen in the next few years.
Hopefully this is all wrong and peace will soon come with a two-state solution.
However if this doesn't happen then it could well be that Israel's policies will have to change in the face of growing international opposition in the years to come, whatever American fundraisers may think.
Debate warmly encouraged.
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