by Tom Segev
A Left-wing new historian Israeli take on the history of transformative year of 1967. He posits that the threat that Israel felt from their Arab neighbors leading up to the war was actually overblown.

Israeli, academic

Difficulty: Advanced

by Howard Sachar

American, pro-Israel, academic

Difficulty: Intermediate

by Jeremy Ben-Ami

American, personal story, political analysis

Difficulty: Advanced

by Abdu H. Murray

American, Christian, pro-pro-pro, political analysis

Difficulty: Intermediate

by Omar Barghouti
One of the main Palestinian leader behind the global Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement lays out the arguments for the international community to employ economic tactics in order to pressure Israel into change.

Palestinian, pro-Palestine, political analysis

Difficulty: Intermediate

by Shira Robinson
A history of Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel.

American, pro-Palestine, academic

Difficulty: Intermediate

by Sayed Kashua, Miriam Shlesinger
Sayed Kashua is a Palestinian Arab Citizen of Israel, famous as one of Israel’s best Hebrew writers, who has a unique identity as both Palestinian in heritage and Israeli in ID card. The main character in “Dancing Arabs” moves between the two societies, feeling alienation and a profound desire to be accepted.

Palestinian, Israeli, pro-pro-pro, creative work

Difficulty: Intermediate

by William Cleveland
An account of the history in the region of the Middle East, including Israel-Palestine. DIscusses the transformative changes in the Middle East, through the Arab uprisings in the most recent edition. “History of the Modern Middle East” is mostly a political history, but also offers economic and cultural perspectives.

American, academic

Difficulty: Advanced

by Mitri Raheb

Palestinian, Christian, personal story

Difficulty: Basic

by Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish

Palestinian, personal story

Difficulty: Basic

by Amos Oz

Israeli, Jewish, personal story

Difficulty: Intermediate

by Martin Indyk
Martin Indyk writes a memoir based on his experience as Middle East adviser to President Clinton, and two-time U.S. ambassador to Israel. He describes different decisions made in Iraq and Iran, and discusses Israeli-Palestinian negotiations under the Clinton administration.

American, pro-Israel, political analysis, personal story

Difficulty: Basic

by Karen Armstrong

American, academic

Difficulty: Basic

by Simon Sebag Montefiore
British popular historian chronologically tells the story of the mythical city of Jerusalem, weaving together various accounts, including secular and religious narratives.

American, academic

Difficulty: Advanced

by Idith Zertal

American, academic, political analysis

Difficulty: Advanced

by Ari Shavit
A narrative and personal historical piece by one of the most influential Zionist Jewish journalists in Israel. It examines many chapters of Israeli history, including its formation. It has become widely read in the United States since its publication in 2013.

American, Jewish, academic, political analysis

Difficulty: Intermediate

by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins

Academic Analysis, pro-pro-pro

Difficulty: Intermediate

by Breaking the Silence
Breaking the Silence is an Israeli NGO comprised of former soldiers who speak out about their experiences serving in the Israeli army. “Our Harsh Logic” is a harrowing collection of the testimonies of soldiers who served in the Gaza Strip or the Occupied Territories that gives a sobering account of the Israeli military system and the mundane reality of being a soldier in challenging situations.

Israeli, personal story

Difficulty: Advanced

by Rashid Khalidi
Rashid Khalidi, a Palestinian American academic, writes a core text on Palestinian nationalism and its origins. He makes the case that Palestinian identity has a longer history than Zionist intellectuals give it credit for, and he underlines this in historical events and their impact on Palestinian national identity.

Palestinian, pro-Palestine, political analysis

Difficulty: Advanced

by Alex Awad

Palestinian, Christian, pro-Palestine, personal story

Difficulty: Basic

by Raja Shehadeh

Palestinian, pro-Palestine, personal story

Difficulty: Basic

by William B. Quandt

American, academic

Difficulty: Intermediate

by Yehuda Amichai

Israeli, creative work

Difficulty: Basic

by John Paul Lederach
International mediator, John Paul Lederach, looks to moments of conflict in the scriptures in order to offer tools for reconciliation and transformation to our modern day conflicts.

American, Christian, peacemaking

Difficulty: Basic

by Ghassan Kannafani
A novella about a Palestinian family who fled Haifa during the Nakba and were allowed to visit with the opening of the borders in 1967. In their former home, they find that a Jewish couple who came after the founding of the State of Israel are living in their home. Ghassan Kannafani was a Palestinian author and member of the PFLP and was assassinated by the Mossad in Lebanon.

Palestinian, pro-Palestine, creative work

Difficulty: Intermediate

by Benny Morris

Israeli, academic

Difficulty: Advanced

by Mosab Hassan Yousef
Israeli informant from Gaza, Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of Hamas leader, Sheikh Hassan Yousef, writes a tell-all about his life and how he was groomed by the Israeli secret service. During his time in Gaza, he experienced a process of disillusionment when it came to the Hamas party and his more positive impression of Israel and the West.

Palestinian, Muslim, pro-Israel, personal story

Difficulty: Intermediate

by Dan Senor and Saul Singer
A seminal book by an American Jew and an American Israeli that celebrates Israel’s economic successes. Despite the effects of conflict, Israel functions with high-tech and industrial output on par with the United States or China. This book was acclaimed by both the New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

American, Jewish, Israeli, pro-Israel, political analysis

Difficulty: Intermediate

by Raja Shehadeh

Palestinian, pro-Palestine, personal story

Difficulty: Intermediate

by Etgar Keret

Israeli, creative work

Difficulty: Basic

by Kirsten Schulze

American, academic

Difficulty: Intermediate

by Mahmoud Darwish
Mahmoud Darwish is Palestine’s poet laureate. Originally from the Galilee, and banned from Israel when he joined the PLO, Darwish writes often about exile and longing for homeland. “The Butterfly’s Burden” is a bilngual collection of his work, written in Modern Standard Arabic and translated to English.

Palestinian, pro-Palestine, creative work

Difficulty: Intermediate

by Alan Dershowitz
A right wing American Jewish response to criticism about the State of Israel from a Harvard Law professor. Each chapter is broken down into the accusation and the reality on a commonly discussed contentious topic concerning Israel. This book is representative of an influential portion of American Jewish opinion on Israel.

American, Jewish, pro-Israel, political analysis

Difficulty: Intermediate

by Walter Laqueur and Barry Rubin
A compllation of first hand sources that tell the story of the Israeli-Arab conflict.

American, academic

Difficulty: Advanced

by Amos Elon

Israeli, academic

Difficulty: Intermediate

by Ed. Salim J. Munayer and Lisa Loden

Palestinian, Christian, Israeli, academic

Difficulty: Intermediate

by John Paul Lederach

American, Christian, peacemaking

Difficulty: Basic

by Aaron David Miller
Key American negotiator, Aaron David Miller, tells the history of the peace process, evaluating its strong and weak moments. The book includes interviews, insider experience, and stories from the negotiations table.

American, personal story, political analysis

Difficulty: Basic

by Baruch Kimmerling and Joel Migdal

Israeli, academic

Difficulty: Advanced

by Edward Said

Palestinian perspective, academic analysis

Difficulty: Advanced

by Gershom Gorenberg
Left-leaning Israeli journalist and historian Gershon Gorenberg writes about the settlement movement and its adverse effect on Israeli society. Gorenberg is of an American Jewish background, and continues to practice Orthodox Judaism in Southern Judaism. He sees the settlement enterprise as an existential threat to the state of Israel and describes a remedy to this entrenched problem.

Israeli, Jewish, political analysis

Difficulty: Intermediate

by David Grossman
David Grossman is one of Israel’s most famous authors and has spoken out publicly as a Left-wing activist. “The Yellow Wind” is a non-fiction first-account of what David Grossman saw in the West Bank. It explores the cost of the occupation both for the occupied and for the occupier.

Israeli, Jewish, creative work

Difficulty: Intermediate

by Salim Munayer and Lisa Loden

Palestinian, Christian, Israeli, pro-pro-pro

Difficulty: Basic

by Gary Burge

American, Christian, political analysis

Difficulty: Basic

by Thomas L. Friedman

American, Jewish, pro-Israel, personal story, political analysis

Difficulty: Intermediate

by Arthur Hertzberg

American, Jewish, pro-Israel, academic

Difficulty: Advanced

by Ilan Pappe

Israeli, academic

Difficulty: Advanced

Ali Abunimah

Palestinian, American, pro-Palestine, political analysis

Difficulty: Intermediate

by Walter Brueggemann

American, Christian, theology

Difficulty: Basic

Dir. Hugo Blick
A BBC mini-series that tells the fictional story of Anglo-Israeli Baroness Nessa Stein, heir to the family business, and striving to create economic peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

British, creative work

Difficulty: Intermediate

Dir. Tom Amber Fares
A documentary about an all female Palestinian racing team, the difficulties they face in their political, and the freedom they find in racing.

Palestinian, pro-Palestine, personal story

Difficulty: Basic

Dir. Wayne Kopping
Follows the lives of five Israeli sodliers. Chronicles their perspective on military service and how it impacts their lives.

Israeli, pro-Israel, personal story

Difficulty: Basic

Dir. Oren Rudavsky, Joseph Dorman

Israeli, academic

Difficulty: Intermediate

Dir. Eytan Fox

Israeli, creative work

Difficulty: Intermediate

Dir. Laura Bialis

Israeli, pro-Israel, personal story

Difficulty: Basic