In this book, David McDowall looks at the recent uprising in a long-term perspective. He examines in detail the historical, social and political background to this important development and asks how it has affected the Arab-Israeli conflict. He discusses the impact of external intervention in the region, the failure of the peace initiatives, the troubled history of Jordan with the Palestinians since 1948 and the problem of the 2 million Palestinian refugees. But he focuses on the experiences of the communities in the front line of the dispute: the Arabs and Jews of the occupied territories and Israel.