Obama's Cairo Speech.

Hopes are high as U.S. President Barak Obama heads to the Middle East. He will be delivering a well awaited speech in Cairo, Egypt, addressing the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis. Many thought he would be humming the same ole tune, one that went, we are pro-Israeli. I'm not sure that this is going to be the case.

Obama has recently asked the Israeli government to stop construction on settlements in the West Bank and Israel was not pleased with this request. They believe they are only developing in a natural manner. They are not doing anything out of the ordinary. The developing is not really what I'm interested in here. I'm more interested in the change in U.S. diplomacy, it seems to me that Obama has other ideas. He is not following the old play book in which the U.S. has followed for so many years. This may become interesting.

Israel seems displeased. The Palestinians in the region are hopeful, but what is up the administration's sleeve? How is he going to calm violence in the region? Does he promote a two-state solution, or a single-state solution. I guess we will have to wait and see what type of magic he will try to perform. The speech from Cairo will be given on the 4th of June and I'm waiting in anticipation.

The Right of Return.

There are a number of contentions facing the Israelis and Palestinians. One major difficulty is what as known as the "right of return". The right of return is a principle in international law that states a group has the right to immigrate or naturalize to what is considered to be their homeland. An example of this law was when a "right to return" law passed in 1950 for Jews around the world who wanted to immigrate or move back to their original homeland.

Now here is the problem we have in the little chunk of land called, the Holy Land. On one side of the conflict, Palestinians have been claiming they have the right to return to their homeland ever since the war of 1948 and 1967.

Israel on the other hand claims the land that has been settled since their christening as a state and the 6 day war, is Israeli land, not Palestinian. Both groups are pointing their fingers, putting blame someone else. It boils down to giving in and compromising a bit. The Israelis and the Palestinians are at fault, maybe not equally, but they are both in the same boat.

In a recent news story Israel leadership stated they are not interested in ceasing development of settlements near the West Bank. Israel believes this real estate is theirs and should be treated as such. U.S. President, Barak Obama is asking Israel to stop developing in the West Bank. The U.S. sentiment concerning the region is a change of tone from years past. Obama is not anti-Israel by any means but he is letting Israel know, the world is sick of the conflict. As an answer to the displaced Palestinian families, Israel argued that Jordan should be the new "homeland" for the Palestinians.

Both sides are in for a new thinker. Obama does not seem like he is going to sit back and allow for either side to whine about why they are right. He is being active by trying to get them to engage in peace talks, meaningful peace talks. It is about time for this conflict to be put to a hault. I think there is enough real estate in that region to make everyone happy. Both sides need to approach the dilemma with humility and think about the bigger picture. Peace in the regioin would allow for all parties involved to flourish.