Part 1: Arab-Israeli Violence 101

I've been very frustrated lately watching events in Iraq, Palestine/Israel, and now Lebanon. A lot of my friends here in the States know I lived a good chunk of my life in the Middle East and that I know quite a bit and feel very passionately about it. That's gotten me into a lot of arguments lately. To be fair, most Americans just don't know the details very well and tend to judge based on the huge mess they see on TV and which seems to make no rational sense to them. I in turn tend to get frustrated, then angry when I face those off-the-cuff judgements. So, as my attempt to contribute something other than frustration and shouting, here's a little something I put together as a sort of guide for the perplexed on Arab-Israeli violence. Very simplified, no maps or dates or crazy-sounding names, just key concepts. I'll post it in two parts. You can click on the images to pull up versions with bigger text.