The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a complex and long-standing issue that has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced many millions of people. 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 following are some key points to understand the conflict:

• 1947 United Nations Partition Plan: The plan sought to divide the British Mandate of Palestine into Arab and Jewish states. On May 14, 1948, the State of Israel was created, sparking the first Arab-Israeli War. The war ended in 1949 with Israel’s victory, but 750,000 Palestinians were displaced, and the territory was divided into 3 parts: the State of Israel, the West Bank (of the Jordan River), and the Gaza Strip.

• Territorial disputes: Israelis and Palestinians have clashed over claims to the Holy Land for decades, a conflict that has long been one of the world’s most intractable. The region is home to 2.2 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and 3.2 million in the West Bank. Although most of Israel’s 9.7 million residents are Jewish, there are around two million Arab citizens.

• Jerusalem: Israel considers the “complete and united Jerusalem” its capital, while Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

• Palestinian refugees: An estimated 750,000 Palestinians were forced out of their homes during the 1948 war, and today their descendants live as six million refugees in 58 squalid camps throughout Palestine and in the neighboring countries of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt.

• Hamas: Hamas is a militant Islamist group that has controlled Gaza since 2006. It has been in conflict with Israel for years, and its attacks on Israel have been a major source of tension.

• U.S. policy: Although the United States is a strong supporter of Israel, it has traditionally tried to advance a diplomatic solution that would reconcile the competing claims of the two parties.

The conflict has been marked by mutual distrust and significant disagreements over basic issues, as well as reciprocal skepticism about the other sides commitment to upholding obligations in an eventual bilateral agreement. The conflict has escalated in recent years, with violence between the two sides reaching levels not seen since the last Palestinian uprising ended in 2005.