The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has a long and complex history. Background reading is essential for understanding this history and for envisioning a just peace. We recommend the following books, which provide historical narrative, political analysis, and theological reflection:
 

Abunimah, Ali. One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse. New York: Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company, 2006.

American Friends Service Committee. When the Rains Return: Toward Justice and Reconciliation is Palestine-Israel. American Friends Service Committee, 2004.

Ateek, Naim Stifan. Justice and Only Justice: A Palestinian Theology of Liberation. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1989.

Baltzer, Anna. Witness in Palestine.

Bennis, Phyllis. Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Primer. Orlando, FL: Trans-Arab Research Institute, 2002.

Carter, Jimmy. Palestine: Peace not Apartheit. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2006.

Corrie, Rachel. My Name Is Rachel Corrie. Edited by Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner. London: Royal Court Theatre, 2005.

________ . Rachel's Letters. Los Angeles, CA: If Americans Knew.

Ellis, Mark H. Toward a Jewish Theology of Liberation. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2004.

Finkelstein, Norman. Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2005.

Gish, Arthur. Hebron Journal: Stories of Nonviolent Peacemaking. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 2001.

Halper, Jeff. Obstacles to Peace: A Re-Framing of the Palestinian--Israeli Conflict. Third edition. Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, 2005.

Hart, Alan. Zionism: the Real Enemy of the Jews.

The Jerusalem Sabeel Document: Principles for a Just Peace in Palestine-Israel. Jerusalem: Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center, 2004.

Khalidi, Rasheed. Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America's Perilous Path in the Middle East. Boston: Beacon Press, 2005.

________ . The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood. Boston: Beacon Press, 2006.

Makdisi, Saree. Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation. New York: W. W. Norton, 2008.

Mendelsohn, Everett, and the American Friends Service Committee. A Compassionate Peace: A Future for Israel, Palestine, and the Middle East. Revised edition. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1989.

Morris, Benny. Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist--Arab Conflict, 1881--2001. New York: Random House, 2001.

Mourad, Kenize. Our Sacred Land: Voices of the Palestine--Israeli Conflict. Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2004.

Nusseibeh, Sari, with Anthony David. Once Upon a Country: A Palestinian Life. New York: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, 2007.

Pappe, Ilan. The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2006.

________ . A History of Modern Palestine. Second edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.

Prior, Michael, editor. Speaking the Truth: Zionism, Israel, and Occupation. Northampton, MA: Olive Branch Press, 2005.

Quigley, John. The Case for Palestine: An International Law Perspective. Chapel Hill, NC: Duke University Press, 2005.

Qumsiyeh, Mazin. Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human Rights and the Israeli-Palestinian Struggle. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2004.

Reinhart, Tanya. Israel/Palestine: How to End the War of 1948. Second edition. New York: Seven Stories Press, 2005.

Ruether, Rosemary, and Marc H. Ellis. Beyond Occupation: American Jewish, Christian, and Palestinian Voices for Peace. Boston: Beacon Press, 1990.

Sabbagh, Karl. Palestine: History of a Lost Nation. New York: Grove Press, 2006.

Said, Edward. The Question of Palestine. New York: Vintage Books, 1992.

Said, Edward, and Christopher Hitchens, editors. Blaming the Victims: Spurious Scholarship and the Palestinian Question. London: Verso, 1988.

Segev, Tom. One Palestine, Complete: Jews and Arabs Under the British Mandate. New York: Owl Books, Henry Holt & Company, 1999.

Shehadeh, Raja. Palestinian Walks: Forays into a Vanishing Landscape. New York: Scribner, 2007.

Tolan, Sandy. The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East. New York: Bloomsbury, 2006.

Winslow, Philip. Victory for Us Is to See You Suffer: In the West Bank with the Palestinians and the Israelis. Boston: Beacon Press, 2007.