Polity Press, 2017. 328 pp. To many, the Israel/Palestine conflict is hairy and complicated, yet it often appears in modern news. Explanations can often be complex and biased, especially with such a charged political situation. The solution is found in Middle Eastern scholar Alan Dowty's Israel/Palestine (Polity Press, 2017). Now in its fourth edition, Israel/Palestine is an excellent primer to the conflict. Dowty begins by dispelling myths of the issue, including that it is centuries-old or based on religious differences. Dowty insists that the roots of the Israel/Palestine conflict are recent and are geopolitical in nature, a conflict over land. After providing a background to both the Jewish and Arab perspectives (a brief "story" on how they came to their current mindsets), Dowty chronologically moves through the significant events in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and notes its effects on Jews, Arabs, and the narrative as a whole. By placing the conflict within...
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