The Middle East conflict has now been going on for a whole century. The region has not had a stable political order or solution since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, and the conflicts between the various parties involved keep flaring up again and again. To provide a better understanding of the complex situation in the Middle East, this book sketches the basic outlines of the conflict and precisely identifies the protagonists and the goals and motives of those involved. The effects of the Arab Spring and approaches to a solution such as the "single-state solution" or "two-state solution" are also discussed. For those looking for concise and well-founded basic information about the causes, history and current political concepts and patterns in the Middle East conflict, this book is indispensable.

Dr. Martin Pabst is a freelance journalist and writer and is the Director of the Institute for Research and Policy Counselling in Munich.