The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is an ongoing military and political conflict in the Levant that began in the mid-20th century and is one of the worlds longest continuing conflicts. The conflict has its roots in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with the birth of major nationalist movements among the Jews and among the Arabs, both geared towards attaining sovereignty for their people in the Middle East. The conflict has been marked by various attempts to resolve it as part of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, alongside other efforts to resolve the broader Arab-Israeli conflict.

The conflict has gone through several phases, including the 1947-1949 Palestine War, which was provoked by the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine that was never implemented. The current Israeli-Palestinian status quo began following Israeli military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 Six-Day War, known as the Palestinian territories. The conflict has also been marked by fighting among rival Palestinian and Arab movements, which has played a crucial role in shaping Israels security policy towards Palestinian militants, as well as in the Palestinian leaderships own policies.

The roots of the conflict can be traced back to the late 19th century and early 20th century, with the birth of major nationalist movements among the Jews and among the Arabs, both geared towards attaining sovereignty for their people in the Middle East. The Balfour Declaration was a public statement issued by the British government in 1917 during the First World War announcing support for the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine. The United Nations adopted Resolution 181 in 1947, known as the Partition Plan, which sought to divide the British Mandate of Palestine into Arab and Jewish states. The State of Israel was created on May 14, 1948, sparking the first Arab-Israeli War.

The conflict is complex and multilayered and carries its own lexicon of terms and meanings. The conflict has gone through several phases, and its roots can be traced back to the late 19th century and early 20th century.