Differing Perspectives:  An Overview of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is often described solely in terms of international diplomacy, particularly Western involvement in exacerbating or attempting to resolve instability in the region.  However, more crucial to an understanding of the nature of the conflict are internal issues, namely the differing perspectives that separate Palestinians from Israelis and make their disagreements so intractable.  This presentation provides an historical overview that highlights how each group holds different interpretations of their shared history and provides the background on the eight key issues in contemporary life that further divide the two peoples and pose challenges for those seeking peace in the region.

Lisa Adeli is the Outreach Coordinator at the University of Arizona Center for Middle Eastern Studies.  She has a Ph.D. in history, specializing in modern Balkan history and minoring in Ottoman/Middle Eastern history.  She is a teacher fellow with the National World War I Museum and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum as well as a volunteer with the Educators’ Institute for Human Rights and through such positions teaches high school.  She has also participated in educator programs to Armenia, Turkey/the Balkans, and the Palestinian Territories.  And in 2012, Adeli received the National Council for the Social Studies award for Global Education.