The (infamous) 1917 Balfour declaration to Baron Rothschild on Palestine (as it was then called) perfectly encapsulates the root of this dispute: a colonial power pledging to European Jews land that belonged to neither.

But this conflict could end today if Washington halted its military, economic and political aid to Israel and if the UN insisted Israel comply with the will of the international community by withdrawing from the '67 territories (West Bank, East Jerusalem, Golan Heights.)