About 10 years ago, and certainly before the Iraq war, people with an interest in world affairs would say that if you solve the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, you will cure the ills of the Middle East.

How wrong they were. The Israel-Palestine dispute is only a small part at that, of the turmoil we now see across the Middle East.

Many more Palestinians have actually been killed in Syria in the last year than have been killed in Israel or Gaza, but the media fails to report this and the ‘Stop the War Coalition’ doesn’t seem to be interested in these Palestinians either.

The world also turns a blind eye to Israeli’s being killed by Palestinians. There have been over 33 terror attacks in Israel in October alone, with innocent civilians being knifed in the streets, but hardly a mention in the media.

The fact is the Israel-Palestine issue is easy to solve. All that has to happen is that the Palestinians have to accept that there should be a Jewish homeland in Israel. Once this is accepted everything else will fall into place, but sadly the Palestinian leadership, or lack of it, is the sticking point.

Whilst there are some 50 Muslim countries on the planet, there is only one Jewish homeland, Israel, yet the Palestinian leaders wish this to be 51-0.

The third most holy site in Islam where much of the turbulence has been kicking off recently is the Al Aqsa Mosque. This famous golden domed building is built on top of the most holy Jewish site in the world, the western wall, commonly known as the ‘wailing wall’. Being built on top gives a clue as to who was there first.

Israelites or Jewish people arrived in the land of Israel about 2000 years before Islam had been conceived. Jews have been a majority population in Jerusalem since the mid 1800’s.

Some Palestinians were displaced when the State of Israel was founded in 1948 and an equal number of Jews were also displaced from their homes in Muslim lands at the same time. Continuing a 70 year sulk is not the solution.

Palestinians need to find their Mandela. In a Middle East where many countries are facing the threat of being led by a barbaric form of mediaevalism, the Palestinian people, as opposed to their leadership, will hopefully soon realise that recognition of Israel as a Jewish homeland, is the only step they can take to achieve peace, prosperity and long term security, for both sides. More from Lance