Annapolis: Promise or poo

Let's face it: The Palestinian conflict is the most intractable political dilemma of the past 100 years - a quagmire of religious and ethnic narratives without equal. It is also the worst case of mishandled international politics of the past 100 years. Some say the conflict is as old as human history in that part of the world, but things really went off the track with the decision by the UN in 1947 to create the State of Israel - part fall-out of the brutal Second World War and part a casualty of the crumbling British Empire, of which the Mandate of Palestine had been part until 1947.

The history of Palestine is complicated and convoluted and has changed ownership many times over the centuries. Depending on who's narrative one chooses to believe, the history of Palestine can be traced back to the days of Abraham, mentioned in the Christian Bible, certain Jewish scriptures as well as the Islamic Koran. At the time, various tribes lived in what is Palestine and Israel today. Gradually, the Hebrew tribes became dominant in the region in between being pillaged by invading empires.

The early days of the Hebrew tribes were prime examples of genocide and imperialism, well recorded in substantial gore in the Christian Old Testament. The escapades of Joshua was a particularly grim example of conquered tribes being slaughtered without mercy - man, woman and child. Of course, the religious spin of the day and even of today, was that all of that horror was part of God's promise unfolding for His chosen people.

After the Assyrian and Persian conquests, respectively, Palestine came under Greek rule. Not long after, local squabbles over dynasty among Jewish inhabitants led to the Romans taking charge. But glory never lasts forever. The Byzantine Empire seated in Constantinople took over the reigns from an unravelling Roman Empire. Meanwhile, the faith of Islam was established by the man now revered by Muslims as the prophet Mohammed. It was not long before the Byzantine Empire gave way to Arab Caliphate rule. For a period Muslim and Jew lived together on one piece of land. But such peace as there was could not last. Trust religion to throw a spanner into the works. It was time for the Christian Crusades - in ninefold during the 11th to 13th centuries.

Eventually, support for the Crusades dwindled and their rule over Palestine (mostly Jerusalem) came to an end. For a brief period the Mamluk ruled Palestine. It was not long before the Ottoman Empire filled the void and became the next empire to run Palestine until Britain finally gained a mandate over the region in a settlement with the Ottomans at the end of the First World War. By now a firm promise was on the table from the British government for the establishment of a Jewish homeland, without prejudice against natives of other ethnicity in the region.

What followed was a steady influx to Palestine of mostly Europeans, claiming Jewish descent by virtue of their cultural disposition. From the foregoing history, it is clearly a long shot for any 20th century European immigrant to Palestine to claim direct lineage to Hebrews of Biblical days. Natives of Palestine of the time had much stronger claim to the land by virtue of their immediate forefathers in the region.

Yet, after the horrors of the Second World War, in which millions of Europeans died in the Jewish genocide, there were strong emotional and moral arguments for the creation of a Jewish state outside Europe. Palestine seemed the ideal candidate. Britain was in a financial fix after the war and her empire was fast eroding. As soon as ethnic conflict in Palestine erupted between the new European immigrants and natives, the Palestine mandate became a hot potato for the Brits. At the first opportunity Britain dropped it and allowed a half-baked division of Palestine to become a unilateral declaration of independence by the Jewish Europeans. The State of Israel was born as if by caesarian. The world was suddenly perched on the verge of an abyss. What followed has been decades of war, strive, oppression and separation.

This week, the world turns its weary eyes on Annapolis in Maryland, USA. Some see promise of a turning point in the ongoing dilemma that is Palestine. But the odds are stacked against such promise. The opposing narratives have bred fear, anger and unyielding demands. For many the situation is up to the nose in political poo. But has not been the history of Palestine just that since the dawn of time: Plenty of promise ending in a pool of political poo?