Two new books lament the outsized role of the military in Israeli national security decisionmaking, blaming the generals for favoring force over diplomacy.

Conflict between Israelis and Palestinians began even before the State of Israel was established in 1948, and the two populations have opposing claims to the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea that have defeated numerous U.S. efforts to broker peace. Right now there is little hope of a comprehensive solution—one that resolves all the issues and involves not only Israel and the PLO but the Arab states as well. Today, the most that Israel can realistically offer is less than the least the Palestinians can realistically accept. For now, the best way forward is to continue talks, but to emphasize practical steps forward on the ground that move Palestinians toward construction of a state.

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will seek to form a big-tent coalition that could signal a new inward focus at a time of increasing tumult in the Mideast, says expert David Makovsky.

Though the results of Israel's recent election point to the creation of a new and potentially more conciliatory government, Steven A. Cook says tensions between Jerusalem and Ankara run too deeply for a single election to make much difference.

Elise Garofalo explains the Israeli election process and describes the many different political parties in Israel.

Just days away from parliamentary elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is widely expected to form a new government in coming weeks, but what that coalition will look like is still unclear, says CFR's Robert M. Danin.

In an interview with ABC News, Richard N. Haass answers eight questions about the "fiscal cliff," Israel, President Obama's recent cabinet nominations, among others.

A former top National Security Council officer in the Bush White House tells the full inside story of the Bush administration and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

If there's one indisputable fact about this most polarizing of figures, it's that he is hard to get rid of -- and every retreat, even his most recent withdrawal from political life, lays the groundwork for an eventual counterattack.

Reza Aslan, CFR's adjunct senior fellow, leads a conversation on Iran and its role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Elliott Abrams says recent Israeli press reports that Washington gave Europe the green light to summon Israeli ambassadors over settlement construction may not be wrong.

Elliott Abrams says if the recent truce announced in Cairo truly brings the Gaza war to a close, it is not too soon to assess who gained and who lost from this conflict.

A profile of Hamas, the Sunni Muslim Palestinian extremist group based in the Gaza Strip.

"Israel needs a Palestinian partner if it is ever to enjoy peace and be the secure, prosperous, democratic, Jewish state it deserves to be. But such a partner will not just emerge; Israel, as the stronger party, actually needs to help the process along," writes Richard Haass.

Thanks to the rift between Turkey and Israel, Ankara's days as a power broker in the Arab-Israeli conflict are over, says Steven A. Cook.

Israel must accept that negotiating with Hamas is the only way forward, says Ed Husain.

Robert Danin, Senior Fellow for Middle East and Africa Studies, discusses the conflict in Gaza with CFR.org's Toni Johnson.

The Gaza conflict has been brewing for a while, and although Egypt and others are working to deescalate it, there are no guarantees, says CFR's Steven Cook.

Steven A. Cook says Gaza's radiating instability proves once again that Palestine is at the center of the region's problems.

Leslie H. Gelb says all parties involved share some responsibility for the crisis in Gaza. But Hamas is by far the biggest villain.