As a Palestinian man once said to me, Jews and Arabs are 'brothers with different mothers', and since the settlers returned to Hebron after the Six Day War, the 'Children of Abraham' have been conducting an experiment in power-sharing in the city of their birth.

In just under eleven days, the world will once again tentatively gaze towards the State of Israel, some with optimism and others with harsh skepticism. As elections to the 19th Knesset edge ever closer, we need to be mindful of what the new Knesset could potentially shape up like.

Two myths about settlements have become pervasive and should be challenged. The first is the idea that the biggest barrier in returning to peace talks is Israel's ongoing settlement construction. The second is that the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank is closing the door on a two-state solution.

When both sides have a claim to this small but strategically significant piece of land, the way to resolve the issue should be through negotiations between the parties, just as the EU is calling for. Why then has the EU prejudged the outcome of those negotiations by taking the Palestinian side of the argument?

Announcing settlement expansion is hardly new in the recent history of Israel, so why such an extreme reaction to the area known as E1? E1 is piece of land 12km squared, in between East Jerusalem and the settlement of Ma'ale Adumim.

The ceasefire negotiated over Gaza has held, but there are few reasons to think that it will last indefinitely, let alone become a turning point in relations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Reports in the press suggest the UK government is preparing to recognise Palestine as a state in its own right. Foreign secretary William Hague is...

In all likelihood on Thursday afternoon the UN General Assembly will agree to the request of Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas to change the status of Palestine at the UN from observer entity to non-member state. Aside from the Palestinians having to print a new set of headed note paper, what will this achieve? Unfortunately, for ordinary Palestinians, the answer is very little.

Proper recognition of Palestine by the UN General Assembly is not the same as peace in the Middle East, but it is a step on the road. Peace can only come from negotiations between the parties and international agreements.

Often wrongly portrayed as a wasteful, cumbersome arm of bureaucratic government which just throws money at a problem, British aid is actually extremely innovative and operates in some very troubled and sensitive environments.

The Israel-Palestine conflict touches a nerve internationally more than any other conflict. Rarely does it seem to feel like just a lot of foreigners killing each other in some far-off exotic land, it feels like it hits home more directly. The controversy surrounding Veolia exemplifies this - the opponents of Israel's occupation of the West Bank see opposing contracts with Veolia as an opportunity to give their objections an immediate voice with an immediate effect.

The Israel-Palestine conflict is a defining issue of our time, but has also ended up becoming a primary example of the so-called 'confirmation bias', where a particular position is adopted, and then retrospectively justified with selective pieces of evidence, ignoring anything which may be contradictory.