Imagine yourself living in a home in the same country that your family has occupied for generations. Imagine one day being forced from your homeland and thrown into exile by other occupants of your homeland.

This is exactly what happened to the Palestinian people who were forced into exile in 1948 and are still struggling as a group to try to get their homeland back.

Currently, Palestinians are approaching the United Nations (U.N.) requesting statehood within Israel. The issue here lies within the U.N. process as a whole; if the General Assembly accepts Palestine’s request for statehood, Palestine will be granted “observatory” statehood, much like the Vatican holds today.

Although they will not have “real” power, they will be recognized as a semi-state; this all changes when the U.N. Security Council meets to discuss Palestine’s future as an actual state.

The issue that rises out of this situation is that if just one of the permanent seats vetoes their request for statehood, then they can never attempt to apply for statehood again.

Outside of the U.N. realm, rumors of “Peace Talks” between Israel and Palestine leaders are causing a lot of commotion in regards to their conflicting beliefs.

Either way, the underlying conflicts of the past still remain today, to the same extent and in some instances, at a more forceful and recognizable rate. Great. So the Palestinians have a place to live now, but they have no say in anything dealing with their home?

These “Peace Talks” aren’t going to do anything for either party, when a predominant cause of fighting is because of Jerusalem; both parties desire power over the Holy City because of their religious ties to the city.
If Jerusalem is the biggest factor in Arab-Israeli dealings and if they were to attempt to become their own sovereign entity, what is left to fight about?

Obviously there is always going to be conflict, there are going to be issues remaining, but the big issue of Jerusalem would be out of the picture. There could be hope if, of course, this plan would actually work. I mean, if the Vatican can do it, why couldn’t Jerusalem attempt it, and be successful?

I honestly feel as though 64 years is far too long for this conflict. The Arab-Israeli conflict is still continuing today within the United Nations as well within the groups themselves.

Although this may be true, the Palestinians still have a long way to go, and I feel as though they (the Palestinians)
have the right to express the optimism within their own culture.

Conversely, the Jewish population makes up a large population of modern day Israel, and so what gives the Arab nation the right to take what is not rightfully theirs? That is the basis of the arguments that are being made around the world. Who rightfully deserves to have control of Jerusalem—along with the West Bank and Gaza Strip in Israel?

Why can’t there be compromise? Why can’t they take Jerusalem out of the picture and let the nations fight out territories by themselves? These are, of course, just my thoughts, but it could work, if we lived in a perfectly peaceful world.