The Beginning of the Conflict

When did the conflict begin? By far the most enduring popular myth about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is that it is an age-old conflict. All too often, one hears the claim that the conflict has been going on for thousands of years. Some even believe that...

The Occupied Territories

Why are the West Bank and Gaza Strip considered “occupied territories”? The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has always been fought with words as well as weapons. The public rhetoric of both sides, and their respective supporters, has been deliberately formulated to discredit the other side’s claims, delegitimize...

The Basics

Who is the conflict between? To understand any conflict, the first and most basic task is to accurately identify the parties involved. When it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, this is not as straightforward as it might seem. As with so much about the conflict,...

The Peace Process

When was the first attempt to make peace? Attempts to make peace between Arabs and Jews date back to the beginning of their conflict over Palestine a century ago, before it turned violent. The first attempt involved Chaim Weizmann, the head of the Zionist Organization...

Conclusion

Is a two-state solution still possible? A two-state solution to the century-old conflict over Palestine has been recommended for more than eight decades. The British government was the first to propose dividing the territory into two separate states—one for Jews, the other for Palestinian Arabs—back...

The Arab-Israeli Wars

How many Arab-Israeli wars have there been, and how many people have been killed? It is not as easy as you might think to count the number of Arab-Israeli wars or tally the number of casualties in them. Since Israel’s founding in 1948 until the...