SBS Dateline | Hot Property

For the last ten months, President Obama’s man in the Middle East, George Mitchell, has been trying in vain to get the Israelis and the Palestinians to agree to a new round of peace talks.

The diplomatic tussle has seen the Americans getting tough on the Israelis – with secretary of state Hillary Clinton calling on Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to put a freeze on all Israeli settlement building activity.

But the tough love isn’t working. The Israelis have refused to cease construction and the two governments are now at their most serious diplomatic standoff in years.

One of the most sensitive issues at stake is Israeli settlement and construction in the half of Jerusalem that Palestinians want to see one day as the capital of an independent state.

Sophie McNeill has been following the developments on the ground in this ‘battle for the East.’

Find out more this Sunday 8:30pm on SBS ONE.