Problems in defining the conflict -- Defining the conflict, nevertheless -- Background to 1917 : origins of the conflict -- Arabs and Jews under the British Mandate : entrenching positions, 1917-1928 -- Collapse of the Mandate : rebellion, partition, White Paper, 1929-1939 -- Shoah, Atzma'ut, Nakba, 1939-1949 -- Israel and the Arab states, 1949-1973 -- Back to the core : Israel and the Palestinians -- From Camp David to the West Bank to Lebanon -- From boycott to mutual recognition, 1982-2008 -- Writing about the conflict -- Confronting the obstacles.